A windstorm knocks down many trees in a national park. Timber companies want to get rid of the fallen trees. How would this MOST likely harm the park ecosystem?

To be able to answer the question, we need to know some terms:

National parks: are mostly not private parks but are maintained by the government with the purpose of retaining the natural environment for recreational purposes, or for other purposes. Most national parks have ecosystems if they harbor living organisms, non-living things, and their environment.

Ecosystem: consist of living organisms, the non-living ones, the surrounding which includes water sources.

Trees are good habitats for living organisms ranging from microorganisms to larger organisms like birds. Trees help maintain the ecosystem as they can act as a windshield to prevent erosion that might occur on the land through the wind, and they also reduce the solar intensity on the soil and the surrounding which could now act as a perfect medium for organisms to thrive.

The Timber companies want to get rid of the fallen trees, and this could affect the park ecosystem by:

1. It could affect the soil nutrient, as this may open the soil to more erosion by wind and water which could affect the population of organisms that need the soil for survival and activity.

2. Fallen trees add nutrients to the soil when they decay. This would no longer be possible if the fallen trees are removed, and it could end up reducing the rate of growth of trees and plants in the park

3. Habitats that the fallen trees created would be affected if the trees are removed.

step 1: nitrogen fixation- conversion of atmospheric no₂ into forms useful to plants by lightning, bacteria, and cyanobacteria.

step 2: nitrification-process of converting ammonia to nitrite or nitrate.

step 3: assimilation-plant roots absorb new form of nitrogen.

step 4: ammonification-conversion of organic nitrogen to ammonia by bacteria involved in decomposition.

step 5: denitrification-bacteria turns the decomposed matter back into n₂o, which is released into atmosphere; repeat cycle.