4 Monocultures
4.1 Development of monocultures
Many studies have identified that majority of the world plantations are monocultures, consisting of a small number of common and widespread tree genera, such as Eucalyptus, Pinus, Acacia, Tectona, Picea, Pseudotsuga, Swietenia and Gmelina (Kelty, 2006; Piotto, 2008; Richards et al., 2010; Alem et al., 2015). Monocultures have been developed for a long time. According to Nichols et al. (2006), the earliest recorded monoculture dated back to 1368, in which several 100 acres of the Lorenzer Forest near Nuremberg was sown with Pinus sylvestris to produce industrial timber. The Western concept of monocultures also developed in the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe because of the scarcity of timber, …show more content…
Many different timber and other forest products can be grown in this kind of large-scale plantations. They are also being used for treating wastewater and improving water quality (Minhas et al., 2015), rehabilitating deforested watersheds and degraded landscapes (Parrotta, 1999). Monocultures for wood and fibre products are dominated in the tropics (Kanninen, 2010). Fast-growing, exotic and low-density wood species, such as Eucalyptus, Pinus and Acacia are largely used for timber, paper pulp, charcoal and fuel, because they have short rotation period and they have advantages in competing for light, nutrients and water resources over native plants (Li et al., 2014; Nguyen et al., 2014; Chaudhary et al., 2016). In temperate and boreal zones, Populus are planted to provide shelter, protect soil and water resources, and sometimes produce wood fuel. For Salix species, they can be used as potential bioenergy crops (Brown, 2000). According to Chaudhary et al. (2016), non-timber monoculture plantations particularly in tropical regions, can supply palm oil, rubber, plantain or bamboo. In several countries of South America, southern Africa and in Asia, monoculture plantations of pine and eucalyptus are advancing for supplying paper pulp factories. There is also a fast expansion of rubber and oil palm monocultures in South-East Asia to meet the increasing world
4.1 Development of monocultures
Many studies have identified that majority of the world plantations are monocultures, consisting of a small number of common and widespread tree genera, such as Eucalyptus, Pinus, Acacia, Tectona, Picea, Pseudotsuga, Swietenia and Gmelina (Kelty, 2006; Piotto, 2008; Richards et al., 2010; Alem et al., 2015). Monocultures have been developed for a long time. According to Nichols et al. (2006), the earliest recorded monoculture dated back to 1368, in which several 100 acres of the Lorenzer Forest near Nuremberg was sown with Pinus sylvestris to produce industrial timber. The Western concept of monocultures also developed in the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe because of the scarcity of timber, …show more content…
Many different timber and other forest products can be grown in this kind of large-scale plantations. They are also being used for treating wastewater and improving water quality (Minhas et al., 2015), rehabilitating deforested watersheds and degraded landscapes (Parrotta, 1999). Monocultures for wood and fibre products are dominated in the tropics (Kanninen, 2010). Fast-growing, exotic and low-density wood species, such as Eucalyptus, Pinus and Acacia are largely used for timber, paper pulp, charcoal and fuel, because they have short rotation period and they have advantages in competing for light, nutrients and water resources over native plants (Li et al., 2014; Nguyen et al., 2014; Chaudhary et al., 2016). In temperate and boreal zones, Populus are planted to provide shelter, protect soil and water resources, and sometimes produce wood fuel. For Salix species, they can be used as potential bioenergy crops (Brown, 2000). According to Chaudhary et al. (2016), non-timber monoculture plantations particularly in tropical regions, can supply palm oil, rubber, plantain or bamboo. In several countries of South America, southern Africa and in Asia, monoculture plantations of pine and eucalyptus are advancing for supplying paper pulp factories. There is also a fast expansion of rubber and oil palm monocultures in South-East Asia to meet the increasing world