The correct option is D Loss of habitat
Cutting down trees permanently to make land available for other uses is known as deforestation.
Forests help to maintain the oxygen-carbon dioxide balance in the atmosphere. Due to deforestation, this balance gets disturbed and the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases.
Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases. These greenhouse gases are responsible to trap the sun's heat and increase the Earth's average temperature. This phenomenon of increasing the Earth's average temperature is called global warming. Thus, deforestation leads to global warming which causes an increase in the Earth's average temperature.
In a forest, raindrops do not hit the forest floor directly. The canopy layer of the forest intercepts the flow of raindrops so that rainwater falls on the leaves of trees and then drips slowly onto the forest floor. In this way forests act as a natural absorber of rainwater and allow it to seep into the ground. Due to this, the water table is maintained in the forests throughout the year. Due to deforestation, most of the rainwater that hits the ground flows away as surface runoff and very little rainwater seep into the ground. As a result, the level of the water table decreases.
Forests help in controlling soil erosion. The roots of the trees in the forests bind the fertile topsoil together due to which the topsoil does not get easily displaced by the action of wind or water. Due to deforestation, the fertile topsoil can be easily washed away by the action of water or wind. As a result, the fertility of the soil decreases.
Forests are home to many wild animals, birds as well as tribals. Therefore, deforestation causes loss of habitat for them.