Effect Of Exotic Tree Plantations On Plant Diversity And Biological Soil Fertility In The Congo Savanna With Special Reference To Eucalypts

Improvement of biodiversity in plantations. Biological factors of fertility related to organic matter dynamics. Biological factors of fertility related to the diversity and density of soil biota. Asymbiotic nitrogen fixation in savanna and eucalypt plantations. Effect of exotic tree plantations on free living and plant parasitic soil nematodes and population changes with eucalypt hybrids and plantation age.

Forest degradation as a result of logging, shifting cultivation, agriculture and urban development is a major issue throughout the tropics. It leads to loss in soil fertility, water resources and biodiversity, as well as contributes to climate change. Efforts are therefore required to try to minimize further degradation and restore tropical forests in a sustainable way. This is the first research-based book to examine this problem in East Africa. The specific focus is on the forests of Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda, but the lessons learned are shown to be applicable to neighbouring countries and others in the tropics. A wide range of forest types are covered, from dry Miombo forest and afromontane forests, to forest-savannah mosaics and wet forest types. Current management practices are assessed and examples of good practice presented. The role of local people is also emphasized. The authors describe improved management and restoration through silviculture, plantation forestry and agroforestry, leading to improvements in timber production, biodiversity conservation and the livelihoods of local people.

Forest ecology includes within its scope the components and functions of forest ecosystems -- a community of organisms interacting with each other and with their physical environment. Forest ecosystems, which consist of bacteria, plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, soil, water and air, differ from other ecosystems in that they are dominated by trees and other woody vegetation. Each of these components plays an important role in the function and health of the forest. This book presents important research in the field.

This book - Biodiversity Enrichment in a Diverse World - considered biodiversity (plants, animals, fungi, and microbes) from three different angles: genetics, species, and ecosystems. The relationships between them are complex and it looks at these aspects from different angles and also various interventions at different levels. The scientific approach of the book demonstrates that the three levels are closely inter-connected and action is therefore needed to conserve and protect the systems if the benefits provided to human life will continue to be available. However, conservation of the biological diversity is essentially an umbrella term for traditional species, relationship to human health, ecosystem conservation and the need to manage the human use of the species and ecosystems in a sustainable way.

A brief history of plantations. Environmental issues. Plantations and biodiversity. Water matters. Plantations and the soil. Pests: plantations' achilles' heel? Genetically modified trees: opportunity or treath? Plantations and global warming. Social issues. Employement: a contested balance sheet. Land tenure and conflict. Economic issues. Spiralling demand. Incentives and subsidies. Economies of scale. Costing the earth.

Face to the current global energy crisis, there is an urgent necessity of searching for alternatives to fossil fuels, and this book shows how timber is a promising resource for sustainable energy production. Northeast Mexico represents an important forest resource to satisfy the needs of the population in these areas. In order to harness these forest resources, technology for exploring these valuable resources must be developed. These technologies (with special reference to biology and wood technologies) are available in scattered form in a few books but there is no central, comprehensive source for practical forest scientists for adopting efficient forest management, practice, and exploration. This book deals with the characterization of the vegetation, morphology, phenological development, biomass production (leaf, litter, wood), and bioenergy of some timber-yielding species of Northeast Mexico, which will serve as a guide to study timber-yielding plants in the native vegetation of Tamaulipan thornscrub and experimental plantations. This includes morphology, vegetation cover, biomass production in terms of volume leaf biomass, litter, and volume of fire wood and timber. Special emphasis is given to the estimation of bioenergy products and chemical composition (Ph, extractable lignin, and inorganic elements). Large variations exist in vegetation cover, morphology, phenological development, biomass production of leaf and litter, volume of wood and various variable of bioenergy products among the selected species. The maximum production was found in summer and the volume of the harvestable timber was obtained in experimental plantations. This book, therefore, will serve as a practical handbook to characterize timber-yielding plants, which will help to efficiently manage forestry resources.

Planted forests - despite being only seven per cent of the world's forest resources, have superseded naturally regenerating forests as the principal source of industrial wood products. Lessening the pressure for wood production, on natural forests, tree planting has released them to be managed for other purposes - carbon sinks, soil and water protection, conservation of biological diversity, recreation and amenity. Representing a complement, but not an alternative, to natural forests, planted forests have become increasingly important for reducing worldwide deforestation, loss of forest ecosystems and forest degradation. Examining the significance of this rapidly emerging world resource, chapters consider the strengths and weaknesses of planted forests, management objectives for their use and aspects of ownership and policy. Data from key production countries are used to evaluate the implications and sustainability of planted forests as a source of forest products as well as social and ecological issues.