Responses of Woody Plants To Human-Induced Environmental Stresses: Issues,Problems, and Strategies for Alleviating Stress

Forest ecosystems are enormously important to mankind.They not only supply wood,foods,medicines,waxes,oils,gums,resins and tannins,but they also regulate climate, hydrology,mineral cycling,soil erosion,and cleansing of air and water.A variety of natural and human-induced environmental stresses have both beneficial and harmful effects on forest ecosystems.However,human-induced stresses are much more harmful than naturally induced disturbances.Human-induced stresses,which often are catastrophic although avoidable,include defor estation,fire,pollution,flooding,and soil compaction.Such stresses variously injure woody plants,impede vegetative and reproductive growth,and induce mortality,largely by causing physiological dysfunction in plants.Human-induced environmental stresses have led to decimation of forest ecosystems,loss of biodiversity,forest declines,and potential global warming. Short-rotation plantations,especially in the tropics,are increasing rapidly,largely to produce wood quickly.Plantations also stabilize soil,prevent water runoff,provide shelter from wind and heat,and relieve pressure for exploiting natural forests.However,plantations alone are unlikely to satisfy society 's growing needs for the products and services that can be provided by woody plant ecosystems.Hence,several multiple concurrent strategies are urgently needed to lessen the many destructive effects of human-induced environmental stresses on woody plants.These include not only the expansion of plantations but also of agroferestry systems and forest reserves as well as the development of innovative silvicultural techniques with a focus on the preservation of natural forests.Conserving sustainability of natural forests will require a land ethic as prelude to understanding the functioning of forest ecosystems,ecological and physiological impacts of disturbances on ecosystems,and the processes involved in recovery of disturbed ecosystems. Many of the harmful effects of pollution,fire,flooding,and soil compaction can be abated by judicious planning to create and perpetuate the critical components of forest stand structure and species composition.Strategies for continuous production of the products and services that can be supplied by woody plants will need to be reinforced by expanded long-term research and close cooperation among forest biologists,social scientists,economists,and regulatory government agencies.