In Which Ways Can Deforestation Affect The Environment?

From an environmental viewpoint, deforestation is immensely harmful and unfavourable, which is proved by the plethora of ways in which deforestation affects the environment. The problem of soil erosion is a direct corollary of deforestation as deforestation makes the soil more exposed to wind and water (specially on areas that have slopes), which ultimately results in soil erosion. Moreover heavy rainfall has a much more adverse effect than it did before deforestation took place – for starters, heavy rainfall causes the water, on areas with slopes, to carry with it large proportions of silt and limestone. As there are no trees to support the soil, the run-off of the land surface has a great tendency to cause floods. Moreover the silt that is carried by rainwater is deposited in dams, which furthermore disrupts the generation of hydroelectricity. This disruption of water naturally affects crops and as a result the agricultural produce is reduced. From the ecological standpoint, deforestation also affects the food chain as it contributes towards the extinction of many species.

Less trees mean less oxygen, less oxygen means less animal biodiversity and humans, its so much more complex than this but these are just the basics but its kind of a domino effect: One environment falls and so do all the others hoped this helped.             
               
                                                                            ~the 12 year old tree hugger doing a science project

Facts on Deforestation:

• 20-40 million species of animal live in the amazon rainforest alone and a massive 20% has been cleared for other purposes.
• 4.5 billion trees are cut down every year (average)
• And only 3.4 billion are planted every year (average)
• Deforestation Causes Flooding. When trees are cut down surface runoff and interception are stopped, both of which help to protect people from flooding.
• Deforestation causes desertification and that could, at the current rate of desertification, eventually turn all forest into deserts.
• Trees absorb the harmful gasses that cause global warming and by destroying them it causes global warming to hit us faster.
• There is over a googol of species of living organisms on earth.
• Not only does it cause floods but it causes drought as well.
• Every tree has at least 100 species of animal living inside it.
• 70% of the cleared land is not used. • Without trees, temperatures will rise as in forests there is a cool and humid temperature.

Additionally, the forests are also a natural "carbon sink". That is, they bind CO2 that otherwise remains in the atmosphere. Removal of forest adds to the problem of Global Warming.

Deforestation can destroy the environment totally.