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Plantations or tree farms increasingly supply wood products to the world. They are typically grown after harvesting a more natural forest. Monterey pine, oil palms, acacia, and eucalyptus are common plantation species. Plantations provide more reliable harvestable yield, forest cover, can stabilize soils against erosion, and prevent leakage of nutrients. But they reduce biodiversity of the forest, encourage genetic impoverishment of tree varieties, and, if chemically treated, can cause water pollution. Plantations are only considered part of sustainable forestry when the creation of a plantation is mitigated by the protection of an equal area of natural or legacy forest.
Keywords plantations, tree farms, biodiversity, wood products industry, Monterey pine, eucalyptus, oil palm, acacia
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