trees

[molly-pot]

if there were no trees on the planet, would we be able to breath and if not. Why ???
Thanks

[wildwood]

Sure. Trees only make a small percentage of the oxygen around the planet. When life first evolved there was almost no oxygen and we would not have been able to breath the toxic sulphurs present in the atmosphere. Over thousands of millions of years the only plants around were algae in the seas and on the shores, that is responsible for turning the poisonous air into breathable air. Eventually other plants appeared.

The danger with destroying the forests is that trees are very good at absorbing the air borne pollution and the most important factor is the snowball effect the absence of forests will have on life. No insects means no frogs, birds, and a myriad of other life that lives on insects and vegetation. The animals that prey on them will have to turn their attention to other prey and in a very short time we will only be able to see most animals in books.

The weather will also alter which in turn affect the food we can grow. Forests are the places where moisture is released into the atmosphere through respiration. Without this the rains that we, and especially the 'third world' countries, rely on for their crops will no longer occur, thus disaster. Oceans release surprisingly little moisture to the atmosphere as there is very little temperature difference between them.

Hope this helps.