Some researchers deals with the desert as a natural environment so we have to save and investment of this environment economically(positive area). While others believes, that we must treated such regions and reduce these areas as much as possible(negative area).
Deserts are famous environments for having little life in them. However, it depends on the type of desert, since in many there is abundant life in which the vegetation adapts to the low humidity of the area (xerophilic scrub) and the animals hide during the day to preserve the humidity. Therefore, it should be invested in protecting the wildlife that may be found in the desert.
On the other hand, from a geomorphological point of view, deserts should also be considered as natural environments because they are environments formed by natural erosive agents that affect to a greater or lesser extent on the ground such as wind and solar radiation.
Also, in the lower areas of the deserts can form salt marshes and, in addition, the dryness of the deserts make them suitable places for the preservation of fossils and human tools.
Desert certainly is a natural environment. However, it does not imply that we have to preserve it, neither that these areas should be reduced as much as possible.
There are no general rules to apply for all arid habitats.There are some approaches can be implemented, but none of them replacing the local environmental impact analysis.
a) Until you have significant desert areas to preserve endemic species and specific ecosystems, it is not a conservation issue to turn arid habitats to a more diverse and valuable environment, rather some socioeconomic ones.
b) A significant part of deserts are secondary, some of them became a desert because of man (malpractice of irrigation or managing rivers, falling forests, burn pastoral lands, etc.). In these cases, we are free to turn the habitats back to a more natural state.
c) Deserts tend to expand (desertification), edges are threatened by wind erosion and drought. To protect those edges is very important to preserve valuable ecosystems.
d) You can have the assumption that desertification is a natural process, but you won't have a lot of followers.
e) Example of the opposite, turn an area to a valuable arid habitat. Hortobagy is the largest National Park in Hungary. It is a secondary arid habitat, the consequence of the dammed Tisza river and the decreasing groundwater level since 1880. It is considered as a high conservation value ecosystem. Earlier, the area was covered by oak (Quercus robur) forests.
Good question in ecological perspective. No one deny that desert are an unique ecosystem and has its ecology. To increase or decrease the area of desert is question arises in different context and objectives of a region focus on human survival and get new area for its habitation and crops. In land resource limited and with population pressure new areas need to be habituated among best possible options like cutting forests, invading islands, deserts etc.
Further we also to see in ecological succession changes if an area not able to reach in climax stage due to anthropogenic or natural calamities. Means in case of desert has been created in many areas due to natural calamities and human pressure. One ex from India is Thar desert which had once a forest may be million years and later erosion leads to expansion of the desert area which increased in last century and so government plan to do shelter belts and windbreaks to arrest the desert area. further for feeding those locals canal water is supplied to cultivate the field and a substantial part of arid zone in Rajasthan, India put under cultivation. What I mean to say everything can not be left to nature will rather judicious management of natural resources as per need of the country. This may not be problem with African continent as population is low.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Psychology