Case Study #1: Deforestation
Read the following case study about deforestation:
(http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/world/americas/ambition–of-avocado-
imperils-monarch-butterflies-winter-home.html?_r=0)
Answer the questions noted below:
1. Why are the forests in this part of Mexico being cut down?
Farmers are cutting down oak and pine trees to make room for more avocado
Orchards. Avocados are being consumed rapidly and farmers need to keep
up with the demand so they are needing to clear more of the forest areas.
2. What are the impacts to wildlife here from deforestation?
Green volcanic hills that tower above Apútzio de Juárez have begun to fill
with swarms of monarch butterflies, however these trees are being cut down to
make room for more avocado orchards, and the trees that they are cutting down
are homes to the monarch butterflies.
3. What are the impacts to the climate in the area?
the trees cool the air from Michoacán’s warm western plains as it rises
toward the oyamel forests in the center. If the temperature at the heart
of the reserve, about seven miles from Apútzio, were to rise, the oyamel
could suffer, and thus the butterflies would suffer, too, he said.