The ecology of Haiti has been degrading ever since the deforestation of the country has begun. Haiti's ecology has been significantly damaged, and only 7% of the original forest remains unscathed by deforestation. Most of the trees have been cut down for firewood, and some of it has been sold to surrounding island nations to provide much needed income.
Levels of Ecology
After every natural disaster, an area can be studied in numerous ways. These ways can be distributed in to the levels of Ecology, which help classify and study the affects on the area more clearly. Haiti was studied on all the levels of Ecology, but the most helpful ones were how Haiti was a biosphere, biome, and ecosystem.
Biosphere - Haiti is a biosphere, because obviously it is a region where living organisms can be found, and is part of the earth. Haiti was studied at this level because the earthquake caused a large amount of the living organisms in the country to die, as well as their habitats. This means that some organisms had to find different food sources, and some had to find different places to live, thereby tampering with the ecosystem. Also, Haiti was still a food source to other countries in the Caribbean, although a very small one, but the earthquake destroyed the few plants they used to trade with other countries therefore those countries now have to get those crops from a different source. Since they are getting crops from another country, this would affect their living organisms as well, since that country's organisms would be losing a food or habitat source also. Haiti's destruction triggered other countries around the world to help contribute to their destruction, so obviously it was studied on how this money loss affected each country and if their relations with other countries changed.
Biome - Haiti is a biome because it occupies a large habitat. Although the country is small, it still consists of numerous communities, populations, and ecosystems. Haiti was studied at this level because it would limit the study to just Haiti, and not all the other countries as well. By just looking at Haiti's country, it could be seen how only the humans,animals, and plants in that country were affected. This is important because then it could be evaluated on which places in the country need the most help, and then continuing in descending order. It could also be evaluated which places were most affected, had more people, had more animals, and how these numbers were affected after the earthquake. Knowing these numbers will help assess the amount of damage done to each area in the country of Haiti, and help divide the country into several different parts.
Ecosystem - Haiti can also be studied at the ecosystem level, because obviously there were many ecosystems in the country where living organisms were interacting with their physical environment. For example, there were aquatic ecosystems, dry or dessert ecosystems, wildlife ecosystems, and even mountain ecosystems that could be found in Haiti. Studying Haiti at these levels would help us know which ecosystems were most affected, what happened to them, and why in relation to their location. Knowing this information can help classify what we need to bring into the country to maintain these ecosystems, and how much they need. Maintaining these few ecosystems left is important because so much damage had been done to the country, and leaving the ecosystems to fix themselves would take too much time, in respect to human life, because they are dependent on these ecosystems to survive also.
Biosphere - Haiti is a biosphere, because obviously it is a region where living organisms can be found, and is part of the earth. Haiti was studied at this level because the earthquake caused a large amount of the living organisms in the country to die, as well as their habitats. This means that some organisms had to find different food sources, and some had to find different places to live, thereby tampering with the ecosystem. Also, Haiti was still a food source to other countries in the Caribbean, although a very small one, but the earthquake destroyed the few plants they used to trade with other countries therefore those countries now have to get those crops from a different source. Since they are getting crops from another country, this would affect their living organisms as well, since that country's organisms would be losing a food or habitat source also. Haiti's destruction triggered other countries around the world to help contribute to their destruction, so obviously it was studied on how this money loss affected each country and if their relations with other countries changed.
Biome - Haiti is a biome because it occupies a large habitat. Although the country is small, it still consists of numerous communities, populations, and ecosystems. Haiti was studied at this level because it would limit the study to just Haiti, and not all the other countries as well. By just looking at Haiti's country, it could be seen how only the humans,animals, and plants in that country were affected. This is important because then it could be evaluated on which places in the country need the most help, and then continuing in descending order. It could also be evaluated which places were most affected, had more people, had more animals, and how these numbers were affected after the earthquake. Knowing these numbers will help assess the amount of damage done to each area in the country of Haiti, and help divide the country into several different parts.
Ecosystem - Haiti can also be studied at the ecosystem level, because obviously there were many ecosystems in the country where living organisms were interacting with their physical environment. For example, there were aquatic ecosystems, dry or dessert ecosystems, wildlife ecosystems, and even mountain ecosystems that could be found in Haiti. Studying Haiti at these levels would help us know which ecosystems were most affected, what happened to them, and why in relation to their location. Knowing this information can help classify what we need to bring into the country to maintain these ecosystems, and how much they need. Maintaining these few ecosystems left is important because so much damage had been done to the country, and leaving the ecosystems to fix themselves would take too much time, in respect to human life, because they are dependent on these ecosystems to survive also.
Different maps of Haiti were made so that it could be studied at different levels. This includes all the levels of Ecology, geography, habitat, physical, topographic, economic, and even earthquake maps.