Cascading Changes?

Question

I'm sorry if I do a bad english. I'm latin american born and the english isn't my principal language.

This is my question.

I read an article from the NASA's Earth observatory reference and I noticed a phrase that I couldn't understand. That's the phrase "Cascading Changes".

After lots of readings, once and again I learnt that is not a change that occurs to the subject Cascading, but the sustantive is the entire phrase "Cascading Changes".

This is the sentence, (you can read the entire article in http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Deforestation/)

"""Cascading changes in the types of trees, plants, and insects that can survive in the fragments rapidly reduces biodiversity in the forest that remains."""

Would you please explain me what is Cascading changes?... I really need your help to answers some questions that I've got from the article.

Answer 1

The posted link  does not work.  From reading this sentence several times, this is what I think this means.

For the term "cascading changes", my best guess is that it is a series of continuous changes or a period of changes.  This is base on the definition of the word "cascade" which is most commonly use to indicate a series of small changes that over a poriod of time that at the end will result in a significant change.

So in this sentence, something is constantly changing.  With each change, a new set of trees, plants, insects would survive best.  However, change is constant, so with the next change will result in another set of trees, plants, and that would survive best.  

Maybe the best way to explain this is with an example.  Let us say we have the following:

Tree A, Plant A, Insect A  - We will call this set A.

We know that Set A will survive best when the enviromental temperature is at 15 C.

Tree B, Plant B, Insect B - We will call this Set B.

We know that Set B will survive best when the enviromental temperature is at 18 C.

Tree C, Plant C, Insect C - We will call this Set C.

We know that Set C will survive best when the enviromental temperature is at 21 C.

Given that the enviroment temperature is in a waming trend..we will see a cascading change from one set to another set that would find the enviromental temperature most favorable for that set to survive.

So with the given rules above...if the enviromental  temperature is slowly warming up from 15 to 21 decrees C, then the first set of plants that would find the enviromental

temperature most favorable to survive would be set A, then set B will follow, and then set C.  In other words, this is a cascading change as we move from one set to another in a set order where each change will lead to another new set.

And if you have something that is constantly changing , it would be make it difficult for all sets to survive through this period.

I think that is what that sentence is trying to say.