EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Tropical forests have the highest biodiversity and primary productivity of any of the terrestrial biomes.

Detailed explanation-2: -Forest conversion is the clearing of natural forests (deforestation) to use the land for another purpose, often agricultural (growing crops like palm oil or creating pasture for cattle), but also for mines, infrastructure or urbanisation.

Detailed explanation-3: -Timber harvesting “always” results in the destruction of the forest. Timber is harvested from national forests by “government resource managers". “Wildfire suppression” prevents future fires by reducing the amount of forest debris on the forest floor.

Detailed explanation-4: -In the United States, most logging takes place in the conifer forests of the West and on the pine plan-tations of the South, on both private and public lands.