Question

When Europeans arrived, the white and red pine that grew near the jack pine plains, were logged and then all the pine acreage was set on fire. Millions of acres of pine trees were burned. How did these practices temporarily impact the carbon cycle model seen here?

Answer 1

Answer:

Deforestation negatively impacts the carbon cycle as trees play an important role in balancing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.

Explanation:

Deforestation is one of the most damaging activities to the environment due to different reasons but mainly because it releases important amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere due to the logging and burning of forests and also leads to the reduction of fauna populations because of habitat destruction.

In this case, cutting white and red pines and then setting a pine acreage on fire disrupts the carbon cycle because:

a) [As stated above] Trees play an important role in balancing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere as there is less photosynthesis carried out by plants - important part of the carbon cycle.

b) When trees (wood) are burned, the carbon that was formerly stored is released into the atmosphere as CO2, leading to another disruption in the carbon cycle.