Don't+Spoil+the+Soil!+(Science+Fair+Project)

= **Don't Spoil the Soil!** =

Vanessa Acebal Period 6


 * Problem Statement:** The effect of deforestation on soil erosion.


 * Hypothesis:** If the rate of deforestation increases, then the amount of soil erosion will increase.

1) soil 2) water 3) small plants (e.g. - grass) 4) 6 containers 5) ruler 6) scissors 7) small rocks/pebbles 8) fan 9) thermometer
 * Materials:**

1) Fill each container with about 2 inches of soil and plant the plants. 2) add water gradually over time (3 millimeters each hour) to each container & have a fan blowing over each container at the same speed, angle, rate, and time. 3) after the first hour, pass a fork over 2 plants in each of 3 containers (experimental group) 4) continue with the routine of adding water. 5) measure how much soil has eroded in each container after 3 hour blocks. 6) Record the data. 7) Repeat steps 1-6 until you have completed three full trials.
 * Procedures:**


 * Background Research:**

Deforestation is a process in which humans clear out forests worldwide to build new structures or raise livestock. Humans have a tendancy to always want to expand their horizons and conquer more land. As the population increases, the demand for more housing, businesses, parks, jobs, and more increase as well. Deforestation is more than just the clearing of trees. It is depleting the environment and limiting the oxygen supply in the air. Humans need oxygen to live, and plants make oxygen through photosythesis. Humans supply the plants with carbon dioxide in order to undergo these processes. The relationship between mankind and nature go hand-in-hand, but the humans are pulling the trees down forest by forest. However, deforestation has the immediate effects, and the long-term effects, one of them being global warming. The equipment and machinery used to chip down these countless trees are heavily powered and give off pollution. This pollution goes into the atmosphere and contributes to the giant hole in the O-Zone Layer. Yet, that is only the beginning of the harmful effects. Not only is the air supply being limited and trashed, but the vegetation decreases as well. Forests are rich in fruits and vegetation; in fact, most medicines come from forests as well! Overpopulation and greed is taking a toll on society, leading people to cut down more trees daily to fulfill their "needs". Deforestation also reduces the quality of the soil by eroding its nutrients and composition. This lowers its carrying capacity in the forest. Deforestation affects many areas in little time.

Soil erosion is a widely-recognized environmental issue today all over the world. Soil erosion is when soil is carried away or shaped by natural processes or some sort of disturbance, such as wind or water flow. This is a big problem because it highly degrades soil, which cleanses it of its nutrients and minerals. The problem does not end where it happens, though. It continues all the way to where the newly eroded soil ends up. The most dangerous of situations in soil erosion is when it erodes the soil at a highly accelerated pace, leaving little behind and carrying the residue somewhere else, where it is unnecessary. Important bacteria and minerals are washed away and ejected into lands that are not in need of it and the process continues. There is also an extreme likelyhood of downhill flooding, also known as a landslide, if a large enough mass amount of eroded soil moves at the same time and flows downhill. This can be extremely dangerous and wipes out everything in its way. It destroys more plants and animals and ruins habitats. Soil erosion is hazardous and depletes forests of their full potential.

Trees are relatively tall and are dense in most forests. This indicates that the forest floor, which contains all of the forest soil and nutrients, are covered and protected at all times by what some may call a canopy. When the trees are cut down, this makes the soil much more vulnerable to its surroundings. For example, winds, droughts, rain, and dust. Therefore, the soil would be more prone to erosion. The eroding of forest soil is a BIG DEAL. The rain, when running, would completely wash out all of the nutrients it had originally, carrying some more soil along with it. Therefore, the soil would no longer be able to support as many organisms and plants as it did before, for they would starve due to lack of sufficient nutrients. Plant life would be uprooted and the inhabitants of the forest would starve to death as well since their source of food would be dangerously low. Runoff begins to take off faster and the lack of tree remains and ground coverage leave the nutrients in the soil to their doom.A very small amount of forests have adequate nutrient levels and sustainable minerals in their soil. Deforestation affects soil erosion by exposing the soil to more depriving conditions and increases the rate by which it happens. It exposes the soil to air and increases its vulnerability to being flooded, being drifted downhill, getting eroded, and of having its nutrients carried or blown away. This increases heavily the chances of the forest becoming a wasteland. Deforestation causes many environmental damages, but just focusing on its effect on soil erosion is enough. By increasing the soil erosion rate, this has a chain reaction. The carrying capactiy of that specific forest decreases, increases global warming, destroys habitats, the nutrients get washed away, vegetation fails (which diploits the economy), lowers the amount of oxygen in the air available to breathe, endangers animals, pollutes the water with runoff packed with soil, and the forest risks desertification.

If the quality of the soil of one forest with a dense population of trees were to be compared with the quality of the soil of a forest with hardly any trees due to deforestation, the soil would be better in the dense forest with no deforestation. There would be more soil in healthier conditions and the plants would have sufficient nutrients to grow and give off vegetation. Meanwhile, the soil of the second forest would barely have any remaining soil, a huge decrease in vegetation, more runoff, and unhealthy soil with no vegetation. Also, the first forest would have more inhabitants and animals whereas the second forest would hardly have any animals due to its poor conditions. When considering a forest, the soil condition is crucial. Forest life revolves around the soil, and if the soil fails to do its job, then the whole forest is ruined altogether. However, the fault falls upon the shoulders of the humans due to their lack of control when it comes to deforestation. It would also be drier than the first forest because evaporation would have more opportunity to take place in an open, vulnerable forest with nothing on the ground. The first forest is the control group and the second is the experimental group. Depending on how much deforestation takes place, the higher the rate of soil erosion goes. However, the amount of rainfall and elevation must remain constant. The types of trees and plants must also be the same. Also, the number of inhabitants must be the same at the starting point and the amount of sunlight and rainfall (water) each forest receives must remain constant as well. The only thing being manipulated would be the amount of deforestation taking place, starting at 10% and working 10% more from there. However, something that cannot be controlled is the height of the plants. Plants grow at different rates individually, and cutting the plants to be the same height would ruin the experiment. Previous observations have led to the conclusion that soil erosion impacts the forest negatively by depleting its nutrients. Previous discoveries have also recorded that forests that have been cleared out eventually become a wasteland or a desert, so it is important to conserve forests and keep the clearing to a minimal if forests are anywhere near the future.


 * Bibliography:**

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