{"id":2213,"date":"2020-10-01T17:42:54","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T17:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/herofortheplanet.org\/longleaf\/?page_id=2213"},"modified":"2021-12-16T04:58:52","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T04:58:52","slug":"co-benefits","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/herofortheplanet.org\/longleaf\/explore\/co-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Benefits of a Healthy Ecosystem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h5>EXPLORE<\/h5>\n<h1>Benefits of a Healthy Ecosystem<\/h1>\n\t<h3>\u201cWow, everything in an ecosystem really IS interconnected! What other benefits does a healthy longleaf pine ecosystem provide?\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>Healthy ecosystems are part of an even bigger web of environmental systems that all depend on each other. Check out some of the other cool functions a healthy longleaf pine ecosystem offers to the community.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/herofortheplanet.org\/longleaf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2019\/04\/all-griffin-cj-nina-247x300.png\" alt=\"all-griffin-cj-nina\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"300\" width=\"247\" title=\"all-griffin-cj-nina\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/herofortheplanet.org\/longleaf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2020\/10\/carbon2.jpg\" alt=\"carbon2\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"341\" width=\"341\" title=\"carbon2\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t<h3>Carbon Sink<\/h3>\n<p>When trees and plants use photosynthesis to create energy, they draw carbon dioxide in from the atmosphere, and release the oxygen we need to breathe. That carbon dioxide helps create the roots, stems, and leaves of the plant. In other words, the plant is made of carbon. Longleaf pine trees and the grasses that grow on the forest floor grow deep roots, which means the plants store or \u2018sink\u2019 carbon underground. Keeping this carbon out of the atmosphere helps slow the rate of climate change. So \u2013 healthy longleaf ecosystems actually help with climate change!<\/p>\n\t<h3>Water Filtration<\/h3>\n<p>Healthy forest lands absorb rain water, refill underground aquifers, cool and cleanse water, slow storm runoff, reduce flooding, sustain watershed stability and resilience, and provide critical habitats for fish and wildlife. In longleaf pine forests, bogs or areas that have standing water during certain parts of the year, also provide valuable habitat for many rare species of plants and amphibian species such as frogs and salamanders.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/herofortheplanet.org\/longleaf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2020\/10\/water3.jpg\" alt=\"water3\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"340\" width=\"340\" title=\"water3\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t\t<h5>\t\n\tEducator Note<\/h5>\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Changes in biodiversity can influence humans\u2019 resources, such as food, energy, and medicines, as well as ecosystem services that humans rely on-for example, water purification and recycling. (<strong>secondary to MS-LS2-5<\/strong>)\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"2\"><strong>MS-LS2-5.<\/strong> Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.*\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Human activities have significantly altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging or destroying natural habitats and causing the extinction of other species. But changes to Earth\u2019s environments can have different impacts (negative and positive) for different living things. <strong>(MS-ESS3-3)<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"2\"><strong>MS-ESS3-3.<\/strong> Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment*.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Video<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0d7FObM4N7o\">Carbon Sequestration 101<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Video<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vJY3DTaE0sI\">How trees capture and store carbon<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Explore more benefits at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arborday.org\/trees\/index-benefits.cfm?utm_source=Arborday.org&utm_medium=Top_Menu&utm_campaign=Dropdown_Menu&utm_term=Trees&utm_content=Tree_Benefits\">Arbor Day Foundation-Benefits of Trees<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Community Assessment<\/strong>: Where do you see the most trees in our community?\u00a0 Where are the trees missing?\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Tree equity score<\/strong><strong>:<\/strong> Not all neighborhoods and cities have the same tree cover and benefit from trees.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanforests.org\/tools-research-reports-and-guides\/tree-equity-score\/\">Find your community\u2019s tree equity score from American Forests.<\/a>\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Do you need a forest to benefit from trees?\u00a0 What benefits might ONE tree or a few trees offer?<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Where in our community do you see environments that provide the benefits of trees: carbon sinks, control of storm runoff, cooling shade, habitat for living things, as well as others?\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Where in our community do you see a lack of trees? What problems might we find in these areas because there aren\u2019t any trees?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\t\t<h5><a href=\"\/longleaf\/explore\/human-impact\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">The longleaf pine ecosystem seems really important! So why is it in trouble?<\/a><\/h5>\t\t\n\t\t\t<a href=\"\/longleaf\/explore\/human-impact\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext \n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EXPLORE Benefits of a Healthy Ecosystem \u201cWow, everything in an ecosystem really IS interconnected! What other benefits does a healthy longleaf pine ecosystem provide?\u201d Healthy ecosystems are part of an even bigger web of environmental systems that all depend on each other. Check out some of the other cool functions a healthy longleaf pine ecosystem [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary cf-quest-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/herofortheplanet.org\/longleaf\/explore\/co-benefits\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":42,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2213","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/herofortheplanet.org\/longleaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/herofortheplanet.org\/longleaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/herofortheplanet.org\/longleaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herofortheplanet.org\/longleaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herofortheplanet.org\/longleaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/herofortheplanet.org\/longleaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2213\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/herofortheplanet.org\/longleaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/herofortheplanet.org\/longleaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}