Tropical Forests Scenario
The Rainforest Action Network says that:

Frontier Forests of the World

Earth in the Balance
In his book Earth in the Balance, Vice President Al Gore writes that "The most dangerous form of deforestation is the destruction of the rainforests, especially the tropical rainforests clustered around the equator. These are the most important sources of biological diversity on Earth and the most vulnerable ecosystems now suffering the effects of our determined onslaught. Indeed, as many as half of all the living species on Earth--some experts actually claim more than 90 percent of all living species--find their homes in tropical rainforests, and the irretrievable loss of the living species dying along with them represent the single most serious damage to nature now occurring. While some of the other injuries we are inflicting on the global ecological system may heal over the course of hundreds or thousands of years, the wholesale annihilation of so many living species in such a breathless moment of geological time represents a deadly wound to the integrity of the earth's painstakingly intricate web of life, a wound so nearly permanent that scientists estimate that recuperation would take 100 million years." (Gore, A., 1993).

Images of the Amazon Region and West Central Africa
The AVHRR Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is a ratio which has been shown to be highly correlated with vegetation parameters such as leaf biomass and leaf area. Areas with high values shown in red are areas likely to be covered with vegetation. The last column contains the change.jpgs that are the result of image differencing (NDVI 1981 - NDVI 1994 pseudocolor images) for the Amazon region and for West Central Africa. Blue areas represent areas of little or no change in the vegetation index, while yellow and red areas represent a decrease in the vegetation index.

The Amazon Region
1981	1994	NDVI 1981 - NDVI 1994
The West Central Region of Africa
1981	1994	NDVI 1981 - NDVI 1994

When we think of rainforests, Amazon is probably the first region that comes to mind. But, the World Resources Institute reports that nearly one-third of the world's rainforests are in Africa, Asia, and other parts of Latin America beyond the Amazon. Even the United States has rainforests in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Judging from the images above, rainforests in other parts of the world may be disappearing faster than in the Amazon region.

Global Rates of Rainforest Destruction
(Source: Deforestation Rates in Tropical Forests and Their Climatic Implications)

• 2.47 acres (1 hectare) per second: equivalent to two U.S. football fields
• 150 acres (60 hectares) per minute
• 214,000 acres (86,000 hectares) per day: an area larger than New York City
• 78 million acres (31 million hectares) per year: an area larger than Poland

These rates of tropical deforestation raise many questions. What happens to our planet when a rainforest disappears? What happens to air quality when the rainforests are gone? What happens to the soil when a rainforest disappears? What happens to surrounding water quality when a forest is burned to make way for farming and grazing? When the forest is gone, will it come back? People can move to cities, but where do the animals, birds, and insects go? Doing research to find out about tropical deforestation can lead to learning about biology, agriculture, rainforests, population growth, endangered species, habitats, land use practices, global warming, weather, climate change, and air quality.

Situation
Later this year in Brazil, an international community of scientists and representatives from government, business, and industry will convene an International Congress on Forest Resources. Vice President Al Gore will represent the United States and deliver the keynote address during the opening session. The Whitehouse has asked NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) to examine the cumulative effects of deforestation on Earth systems and to draw some conclusions about the fate of the world's rainforests and the planet itself. 

ESE in turn has contracted with your company to analyze the cause-and-effect relationships that exist among Earth systems as a result of rainforest destruction. The results of your analysis will serve as the talking points for the Vice President's keynote presentation and should include the hazards of continued rain forest destruction and recommendations for future courses of action with supporting Earth systems information.

Assignments
Over the next two weeks (Week A and Week B) you will work individually and in teams to address the tropical forests situation. Use the links below to access your assignments.

Week A: Teacher as Problem Solver
Private Theory Activity and Rubric
Individually, identify what you believe to be true and the reasons for why you have those beliefs regarding tropical forests.

Week A: Teacher as Problem Solver
Knowledge-Building Activity and Rubric
As a team, build ESS knowledge about the tropical forests event described in the scenario, and develop a problem statement.

Week B: Teacher as Model Builder
Model-Building Activity and Rubric
Using your team's original or revised problem statement, build an ESS model that includes the ESS relationship statements and evidence that support your conclusions (recommendations or solutions).

[ Back to Outline ]

[ Home ] [ Intro ] [ Guide ] Outline [ Classroom ]

HTML code by Chris Kreger
Maintained by ESSC Team
Last updated July 25, 2000

Privacy Statement and Copyright^© 1997-2000 by Wheeling Jesuit University/NASA Classroom of the Future™. All rights reserved.