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In order to understand the effects of deforestation, it is necessary to understand the causes of deforestation. Cause and effect are intertwined, and result in a positive or negative outcome.

In stable forest ecosystems, deforestation often results in new growth. Forest fires were once thought of as a devastating event, one which destroyed all trees at a given location, until it was understood that the fires actually stimulated new growth, growth which would not have occurred without the fire. Loss of trees, through an unanticipated local fire, results in the growth of new trees and other plants. Without the fire, stagnation would probably have occurred, resulting in an ecosystem lacking diverse plant life. For this reason, forest rangers regularly practice controlled burns, in order to keep the forest healthy.

In the early 20th Century, a massive explosion in the Tunguska region of Siberia instantly deforested a large section of wilderness. Even after 20 years, skeletons of trees littered the landscape. It was noticed, however, that new growth occurred in the area leveled, more rapidly than was typical for the region, due to unexpected fertilization of the earth, a by-product of the explosion. Once again, the force which caused the loss of trees (deforestation) created an environment in which new trees and other plants thrived.

Prior to the period known as the Little Ice Age in Europe, the European forest was comprised of trees which were adapted to the moderate environment in which they were found. As the temperatures plummeted at the dawn of the Little Ice Age, these trees were unable to adapt to the increasing cold and were gradually replaced by hardier species. The forests of Europe were actually deforested, through the loss of one species of tree, even though the forest would be replaced with an entirely different type of tree, solely due to the change in climate. Effects of this European deforestation would have included the loss of other life forms dependent on the lost tree for sustenance, as well as a physical change in the forest itself.

Deforestation through replacement currently continues to occur in towns throughout the United States. As homeowners plant imported non-North American trees, that they have purchased, on their land, new trees, which are sometimes more aggressive life forms than their native North American counterparts, favor the elimination of other species of trees, resulting in the loss of the unique North American ecosystem. Once again,

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