Forests

Forests are ecosystems consisting of trees, shrubs, and other vegetation that cover land areas on every continent except Antarctica. They provide habitat for a wide variety of animals, birds, and insects as well as many types of plants. Forests serve vital roles in the global environment by regulating climate change through carbon sequestration — absorbing large amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) from burning fossil fuels — and providing clean air to breathe by removing pollutants from the atmosphere. Forested lands also help protect watersheds which supply surface water for drinking water sources. In addition to their ecological importance forests have been an important part of human culture since ancient times; they were used extensively throughout history both as places to live in or visit but also as valuable resources for timber production, fuel wood collection and medicinal plant gathering among others uses.

Trees make up most forested areas with coniferous species such as pine dominating northern regions while deciduous oak dominate mid-latitude zones like Europe’s temperate broadleaf forests or North America’s eastern hardwood forests along with tropical rainforests found near equatorial regions such as South America’s Amazon basin region where more than half the world’s remaining tropical moist evergreen forest is found today despite deforestation due to logging activities over recent decades . The majority of these old growth forests have already been lost however reforestation efforts carried out by governments around the world alongside increasing awareness about sustainable forestry practices has seen some success in restoring them back into healthy ecosystems once again . Providing habitats suitable for hundreds if not thousands different species at any given time , these “lungs”of our planet will remain important now just like always – playing a key role in maintaining balance within Earth’s fragile biosphere