Sustained productivity in intensively managed forest plantations

摘要

Because of the rapid increase in the world's population, demand for forest products is increasing while large amounts of forest land are being lost or degraded. In addition, timber harvest is being restricted in many of the world's natural forests. The use of plantations managed for timber production must increase to meet the world's increasing demand for wood and fiber from this reduced land base. Concentrating timber production on the best-adapted sites will allow the world's demands to be met on fewer acres. Intensive management of plantation forests is perhaps the only way to meet the increasing demand for forest products and still reserve large areas of native forests for conservation and preservation purposes. Maintaining long-term soil productivity in these intensively managed plantations is critical. The impacts of intensive management on soil quality and subsequent tree growth can be positive, neutral or negative; the direction and magnitude of the impact depends on the specific management practice soil physical, chemical and biological properties. In order to understand and predict the impacts of intensive management, the factors limiting productivity on each specific site must be understood.