Tree plantations play a controversial role in many nations' efforts to balance goals for economic development, ecological conservation, and social justice. This paper seeks to contribute to this debate by analyzing the socioeconomic impact of such plantations. We focus our study on Chile, a country that has experienced extraordinary growth of industrial tree plantations. Our analysis draws on a...

Carbon sequestration strategies highlight tree plantations without considering their full environmental consequences. We combined field research, synthesis of more than 600 observations, and climate and economic modeling to document substantial losses in stream flow, and increased soil salinization and acidification, with afforestation. Plantations decreased stream flow by 227 millimeters per y...

land-use change has strong effects on ecosystem properties, especially on soil carbon storage and it increased global atmospheric co2. degradation and loss of area and quality of hyrcanian forests are the biggest problems in these forests. one of the most important solutions to taking care of these problems is increasing plantations in these areas. therefore, investigation of the effects of dif...

Pine plantations near Perth, Western Australia have provided an important food source for endangered Carnaby's Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus latirostris) since the 1940s. Plans to harvest these plantations without re-planting will remove this food source by 2031 or earlier. To assess the impact of pine removal, we studied the ecological association between Carnaby's Cockatoos and pine using behavi...

Shade coffee plantations have received attention for their role in biodiversity conservation. Bats are among the most diverse mammalian taxa in these systems; however, previous studies of bats in coffee plantations have focused on the largely herbivorous leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae). In contrast, we have virtually no information on how ensembles of aerial insectivorous bats--nearly half the...

1. In Europe, intensively managed coniferous plantations rarely achieve similar nature conservation functions as deciduous woodlands. The ability to identify coniferous plantations that might be successfully converted to deciduous woodland is a key goal in forest management. The herbaceous plant community composition of mature plantations may be an accurate selection criterion for stands that a...

Tropical montane habitats, grasslands, in particular, merit urgent conservation attention owing to the disproportionate levels of endemic biodiversity they harbour, the ecosystem services they provide, and the fact that they are among the most threatened habitats globally. The Shola Sky Islands in the Western Ghats host a matrix of native forest-grassland matrix that has been planted over the l...

To gain the effects of N fertilizer applications on N2O emissions and local climate change in fertilized rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations in the tropics, we measured N2O fluxes from fertilized (75 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1)) and unfertilized rubber plantations at Xishuangbanna in southwest China over a 2-year period. The N2O emissions from the fertilized and unfertilized plots were 4.0 and 2.5 k...

Aim Little is known about the performance of plantations relative to natural forests of the same climate zone and age. China has more plantations than any other country as a consequence of massive afforestation efforts. We use data from China to comparatively examine tree biomass and productivity of planted and natural stands in relation to climate zone, latitude, elevation, age and species div...

Many major corporations and countries have made commitments to purchase or produce only "sustainable" palm oil, a commodity responsible for substantial tropical forest loss. Sustainability certification is the tool most used to fulfill these procurement policies, and around 20% of global palm oil production was certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2017. However, the eff...