Why are temperate forests used more extensively for lumbering than tropical forests?
Answers
The longest histories of substantial forest clearing have been in Asia and Europe. In China clearing for agriculture probably began some 5000 years ago, where the Chinese civilization is believed to have begun around the Huang He (Yellow River). The primary sociopolitical factor contributing to deforestation of China over the centuries has probably been the focus on an agriculture-based economy. At present, there is negligible large-scale reforestation in temperate China and significant soil erosion problems hampering reforestation.
Forest clearing for agriculture in Europe began over 5000 years ago starting in present-day Turkey and Greece and moving northwest through Middle Europe to Northern Europe. Forests of Britain were substantially cleared for agriculture and grazing. Woodlands regained some area in the Middle Ages; however, even remaining European temperate forests were degraded, being used for fuelwood, woodland pasture, and later for charcoal. Coppice practices promoted species that re-sprouted more quickly than beech – including maples and oaks, and this activity altered the natural floristic composition. Tall trees in Britain and Western Europe were removed for shipbuilding. Manorial estates provided some of the few refuges for natural forests. Reforestation in recent centuries in Europe began subsequent to reduction in the use of woodlands for pasture and fuel; reforestation has also occurred through the introduction of planted managed forests and scientific forestry. However, spruce, pine, and larch have been widely planted on areas previously occupied by once deciduous temperate forests.
North American indigenous populations cleared or burned small areas for some agriculture, but land-cover change in North American temperate forests began at large scales in the late sixteenth century with the European settlement. Eastern North American was rapidly cleared as the population moved westward in the nineteenth century. By the start of the twentieth century only a small amount of the original North American temperate forest remained. When the richer soils of the topographically level Midwest and Great Plains were found to be more productive for agriculture than those of eastern North America, eastern farms were abandoned and natural forests began to re-grow. At present, secondary forests are regrowing in the eastern and central United States.
In the Near East the temperate forest occurs in a narrow belt including in Turkey and Iran. This area probably served as a plant refugium during the Ice Ages and the floristic composition is more diverse than that in Europe. Some forests have been exploited for coppice, timber, or grazing and others transformed into agriculture and fruit-tree plantations. Beech forests are the most significant of the present-day broad-leaved forests in the region. In the small area of temperate deciduous forest in South America, forests have been moderately altered since the arrival of the Spaniards in the sixteenth century; the further south one goes the more recently the vegetation has been undisturbed and wooded areas remain. Australia first saw introduction of European agricultural practices only approximately 150 years ago.
Present-Day Land Cover and Rates of Change
The global temperate forest continues to be changed by a combination of long-term effects of historical land-cover change and by present-day change agents. Present-day drivers of land-cover change in temperate forests include accelerated population growth, continued industrialization, and changes in agricultural practices.
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Explanation:
Forest clearing for agriculture in Europe began over 5000 years ago starting in present-day Turkey and Greece and moving northwest through Middle Europe to Northern Europe. Forests of Britain were substantially cleared for agriculture and grazing. Woodlands regained some area in the Middle Ages; however, even remaining European temperate forests were degraded, being used for fuelwood, woodland pasture, and later for charcoal. Coppice practices promoted species that re-sprouted more quickly than beech – including maples and oaks, and this activity altered the natural floristic composition. Tall trees in Britain and Western Europe were removed for shipbuilding. Manorial estates provided some of the few refuges for natural forests. Reforestation in recent centuries in Europe began subsequent to reduction in the use of woodlands for pasture and fuel; reforestation has also occurred through the introduction of planted managed forests and scientific forestry. However, spruce, pine, and larch have been widely planted on areas previously occupied by once deciduous temperate forests.
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