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Inquiry 2: Biodiversity and the World’s Forests

Primary forests are usually rich in biodiversity. Biodiversity is the variety of life and life processes. When a natural ecosystem is diverse, it has a variety of living organisms. In this inquiry, scientists wanted to know how much biodiversity the world's forests contained. Additionally, scientists studied the impact of invasive species and some types of fire on forests' biodiversity.

Be sure to check out the lesson plans for both this Inquiry and the entire journal in the Educators tab below.

Inquiry 2: Biodiversity and the World’s Forests

THE SITUATION:

In Inquiry 1, you learned about the types of forests found across the planet. You also learned how much of Earth’s land area is covered in forests, and where forest area is growing and shrinking. You also learned about primary forests.

Primary forests are those with native tree species and little evidence of human activities. Primary forests are usually rich in biodiversity (Figure 1). Biodiversity is the variety of life and life processes. When a natural ecosystem is diverse, it has a variety of living organisms.

an i‘iwi bird — **Figure 1**. Tropical rain forests contain a wide variety of plants and animals, such as this iiw’i. Photo by David Flaspohler..

FAO wanted to know how much biodiversity the world’s forests contained in 2010. This can be complicated, because there are many ways to measure biodiversity. Biodiversity can be measured within an ecosystem, a plant or animal community, a species, a population, among individuals, and among genes. FAO decided to collect three pieces of information as an indication of a country’s forest biodiversity.

These 3 pieces of information included:

The number of hectares in primary forests.
The number of hectares of forests set aside to conserve the forest’s biodiversity.
The number of hectares of forests in protected areas. Protected areas are areas set aside by law to conserve biodiversity and other natural and cultural resources.

FAO and the National Correspondents also planned to identify the number of hectares of forests affected by natural or human-caused disturbances.

Reflection Section

WHAT FAO DISCOVERED:

Worldwide, more than one-third of the world’s forests are primary forests (Figures 2 and 3). This includes tropical rain forests, which are Earth’s most diverse forests. FAO found that the percentage of primary forests has decreased yearly by 0.4 percent since 2000. This is about 40 million hectares, or the size of 12 football fields lost every minute. The decline was caused mostly by logging and other human disturbances. This does not mean that the forests had disappeared, however. It could mean that the primary forest had been modified by human activity so that it could no longer be classified as primary forest.

A graphic showing primary vs other forest — **Figure 2**. Most of the world’s forests are in a category FAO called “other natural forests.” These forests are growing without human assistance, but show signs of human activities.

A graphic showing the percentage of forest land in each country classified as primary forest in 2010. — **Figure 3**. The percentage of forest land in each country classified as primary forest in 2010.

Why is genetic diversity important to the world’s forests?

Natural environments are always changing in some way. When something in the environment changes, plants and animals must adapt to the change if they are to survive. Some individuals can adapt and some cannot. This is because of slight differences in their genetic structure. If all individuals of a species had exactly the same genetic structure, the species may not be able to survive in a changing environment.

Almost twelve percent of the world’s forests are set aside for the conservation of biodiversity (Figures 4 and 5 and Table 1). The area of these forests increased by 63 million hectares between 2000 and 2010.

A graphic showing the percentage of forest land in each country set aside to conserve biodiversity, 2010. — **Figure 4**. The percentage of forest land in each country set aside to conserve biodiversity, 2010.

A graph showing Number of hectares of forests set aside to conserve biodiversity by region, 1990-2010. — **Figure 5**. Number of hectares of forests set aside to conserve biodiversity by region, 1990-2010.

Table 1. Number of hectares and percent of forest area set aside to conserve biodiversity by region in 2010. Round off to the nearest whole percentage each of the percentages in the third column.
Region	Number of Hectares	% of Forest Area
Africa	92,529,000	13.7
Asia	78,513,000	13.3
Europe	37,150,000	3.7
North and Central America	108,969,000	15.5
Oceania	30,640,000	16.0
South America	115,613,000	13.4
World	463,415,000	11.5

Worldwide, 13 percent of the world’s forests are located within protected areas (Figure 6). Since 1990, 94 million hectares of protected areas have been added globally. Two-thirds of these protected areas were added since 2000.

A graph of the percentage of forest area in protected areas by region, 2010. — **Figure 6**. The percentage of forest area in protected areas by region, 2010.

You Do The Math

FAO found that over the past 20 years, more of the world’s forests are being set aside to conserve biodiversity. On the other hand, it found that the area of primary forests worldwide has declined over this same period.

Biodiversity can be threatened by invasive insects and some kinds of forest fires. Nearly 35 million hectares of forest land were damaged by insects worldwide (Figure 7). In particular, the mountain pine beetle attacked over 11 million hectares of forest in Canada and the western United States (Figure 8).

a globe graphic of the average area of forest damaged by insects yearly by country, 2005. — **Figure 7**. Average area of forest damaged by insects yearly by country, 2005.

A mountainous area with trees of varying colors — **Figure 8**. The mountain pine beetle is destroying large areas of forest in the North American West. Photo by Barbara Bentz.

Largely because of the increase in worldwide trade, insects are moving from country to country.

The changing global climate has also made many areas more favorable for insects. This has caused an increase in damage from insects worldwide. Unfortunately, many countries did not collect information about damage from insects.

One percent of all forests were affected by forest fires in 2010 (Figures 9 and 10).

A globe graphic showing average area of forest damaged by fire yearly by country, 2005. — **Figure 9**. Average area of forest damaged by fire yearly by country, 2005.

This estimate may be low, however, as only 78 out of 233 countries reported information about forest fires. Events such as fire, drought, wind, snow, ice, and floods are usually considered natural disturbances. As the global climate changes, the number and strength of these disturbances have been increasing. This has resulted in a greater threat to forest biodiversity in these areas.

A forest fire destroyed forest — **Figure 10**. A forest fire destroyed this forest in Chile. Photo by John Pye.

Reflection Section

Are forest fires always a bad thing for forests?

FAO used the area of forest damaged or destroyed by fire to evaluate the health and vitality of the forests. For some forests, however, occasional fire is needed. In these forests, trees are adapted to withstand fires that burn across the ground. The trees are not killed. Some trees need fire to break open their seeds so they can germinate. Some trees depend on fire to keep other trees from growing in the area. So while many forest fires damage or destroy forests, it is important to remember that some types of forests need ground fires to conserve their biodiversity. When these fires occur, they typically do not destroy the forest.

Did You Know?

The heaviest woods in the world come from flowering trees that are called “ironwoods”. This unusual wood sinks in water! http://waynesword.palomar.edu

One of the world’s softest and lightest woods is from the American balsawood tree. http://waynesword.palomar.edu

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The World's Forests 2 - No. 15

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What Is the World's Forests Edition?

A stack of World's Forests editions

The World’s Forests editions of Natural Inquirer present the results of a worldwide effort to understand the world’s forests, organized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO. These journals are based on the FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessments that are published every 5 years. These editions contain information from over 200 countries and territories around the world. World’s Forests editions are written for a middle school audience.

World’s Forests editions include:

Four or five articles called “Inquiries” based on one category of findings from the FAO’s report; these are written in language students can understand.
A FACTivity for each Inquiry (in editions 2 & 3), which is an activity to complete after reading the article. The FACTivity helps reinforce major science concepts from the article. These activities are designed to be easy to implement, with few material requirements and options for adapting them for your audience or available resources.
A lesson plan for each Inquiry to help you integrate the article, the FACTivity, and related materials with your classroom instruction
A glossary of new terms for each article and the introductory materials.
A list of related Natural Inquirer publications for each article as well as outside references.
Standards correlations, including Next Generation Science Standards, addressed in the articles and the FACTivities.

These editions also include sections on the practice of science, environmental science concepts, and other activities (like photo challenges).

A screenshot of one of the Inquiries (articles) in World's Forests, showing the different format options for reading the article.

Reading Modes

World’s Forests editions are available in three different formats:

Hard copies can be ordered from the website and shipped, all free of charge.
PDF versions of the printed journal can be downloaded free on the website. The PDF version directly replicates the content and layout of the printed version. You can also download individual articles as pdfs.
The “Read Distraction Free” option allows the individual articles to open in their own window, without the rest of the website being visible. These articles can be found under the “Articles” tab. This version allows readers to scroll to particular sections of the article using the sidebar menu on the left side of the screen. This version also has interactive Reflection Sections and “You Do the Math” challenges. Students can enter their answers, submit them, and then receive the correct answers to double-check their work. Submitted answers are not saved on the website and will disappear once the window is closed.

What's in a World's Forests Inquiry?

Here, we'll go into more detail about the parts of a World's Forests Inquiry and give you some ideas about how they can be used.

The Situation
This section introduces one of the questions asked by FAO. In it, we present background information that led researchers to ask the question about the world’s forests.

Use this section to:
- Introduce kids to the motivations behind the research and why the research is important
- Introduce kids to environmental science topics like carbon storage, land use, ecosystem services, and forest management
- Explore ways that people are impacted by forests
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) applications:
- Science and Engineering Practices
- Crosscutting Concepts: Influence of Science, Engineering, and Technology on Society and the Natural World
Note that specific standards for this particular journal are linked on this educator guide tab.

Other resources:

Each Inquiry is paired with a lesson plan and, in editions 2 & 3, with an activity to help students process the information from the article.
What FAO Discovered
This section presents the answer to the research question. This section includes tables, figures, and photographs as well as text. Embedded within this section are “Reflection Sections,” which ask questions aimed at encouraging students to think critically about what they are reading. We’ve designed these questions to check student comprehension and stimulate discussion. The answer key to the reflection sections can be found on the Educators tab as a downloadable file.
In some instances, a “You Do the Math” section provides an opportunity for students to integrate math with their scientific learning.

Use this section to:
- Teach students how to read graphs and charts and interpret data
- Encourage students to think about the practice of science and what it can and cannot tell us
- Discuss the implications of the research group’s findings on a global scale
Next Generation Science Standards applications:
- Science and Engineering Practices
- Life Science Disciplinary Core Ideas (depending on topic)
- Most Crosscutting Concepts (depending on topic)
Note that specific standards for this particular journal are linked on this educator guide tab.

Other resources:

You can use key words to search for other or related scientific topics on our website (e.g. “carbon cycle,” “watershed,” or “forest inventory”).

Additional Sections in a World's Forests Edition

Each World’s Forests edition also contains introductory sections that help students understand the purpose, structure, and background knowledge for the inquiries.

A screenshot of the Thinking About World's Forests section “Thinking About the World’s Forests” presents the benefits of forests and sets the stage for why it is important to understand forests at a global scale. Use this section to discuss the ecosystem services provided by forests and their impact on other parts of the environment, like watersheds, climate, and the carbon cycle.

“Thinking About Science” presents the method used by FAO to gather the information included in the inquiries. Use this section to discuss the scientific process and the practice of scientific inquiry. Topics may include data collection, sampling methods, forest inventory and monitoring, and more.

Each of these sections also has its own lesson plan. These plans can be combined with the inquiries and their accompanying activities and lesson plans to create a whole unit of study on the world’s forests.

Additional Resources on the Website

A screenshot of the product tabs for an NI monograph On the website, we pair each journal with a variety of other resources, as well. Use the tabs on the product page to browse through the following:

Related activities for the publication
An “About” essay that gives some larger context for the research the scientists conducted or more information about the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
A glossary of all boldfaced terms from the journal
An “Educator Guide” tab that contains the lesson plans, standards alignments, and answer guides for the publication
A “Related Content” page that lists both Natural Inquirer resources about similar topics and also outside reference materials

The World’s Forests editions were published in partnership with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the USDA Forest Service, and FIND Outdoors.

Lessons

In this lesson plan, students will discuss biodiversity, from genetics to plant and animal communities. They will compare and contrast different countries’ biodiversity findings and analyze how factors like invasive...
Lesson Plan – Inquiry 2 from World’s Forests 2 Edition
In this lesson plan, students will discuss biodiversity, from genetics to plant and animal communities. They will compare and contrast different countries’ biodiversity findings and analyze how factors like invasive...
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- Download Lesson Plan (PDF)
- Explore Lesson Plan
- Download Lesson Plan (PDF)
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The World's Forests 2 - No. 15
This lesson plan introduces students to The World’s Forests 2 and walks them through each section of the journal. Students will examine the 5 topics the journal addresses. This features...
Lesson Plan – The World’s Forest 2
This lesson plan introduces students to The World’s Forests 2 and walks them through each section of the journal. Students will examine the 5 topics the journal addresses. This features...
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- Download Lesson Plan (PDF)
- Explore Lesson Plan
- Download Lesson Plan (PDF)
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The World's Forests 2 - No. 15

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Inquiry 2: Biodiversity and the World’s Forests

THE SITUATION:

Reflection Section

WHAT FAO DISCOVERED:

Why is genetic diversity important to the world’s forests?

You Do The Math

Reflection Section

Are forest fires always a bad thing for forests?

Did You Know?

The World's Forests 2 - No. 15

FACTivity – Biodiversity and the World’s Forests

Glossary

average

biodiversity

diversity

germinate

organism

population

Standards addressed in this Article:

What Is the World's Forests Edition?

Reading Modes

What's in a World's Forests Inquiry?

The Situation

What FAO Discovered

Additional Sections in a World's Forests Edition

Additional Resources on the Website

Lessons

Lesson Plan – Inquiry 2 from World’s Forests 2 Edition

Lesson Plan – The World’s Forest 2

Education Files

The World’s Forests 1 – Vol. 11 No. 1

The World’s Forests 3 – No. 20

Download all resources - FREE!

Journals & Monographs

Collector Cards

Readers

Coloring and Activity Books

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FACTivity – Biodiversity and the World’s Forests

Glossary

average

biodiversity

diversity

germinate

organism

population

Standards addressed in this Article:

What Is the World's Forests Edition?

Reading Modes

What's in a World's Forests Inquiry?

The Situation

What FAO Discovered

Additional Sections in a World's Forests Edition

Additional Resources on the Website

Lessons

Lesson Plan – Inquiry 2 from World’s Forests 2 Edition

Lesson Plan – The World’s Forest 2

Education Files

Related Resources from the Natural Inquirer

The World’s Forests 1 – Vol. 11 No. 1

The World’s Forests 3 – No. 20

Additional Resources

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations