(Study Material) Botany Study Material For AIPMT and State PMT Examination (Forest Ecosystem)
Study Material : Botany Study Material For AIPMT and State PMT Examination (Forest Ecosystem)
Forestry is the art, science, and practice of studying and managing forests
and plantations, and related natural resources. Silviculture, a related science,
involves the growing and tending of trees and forests. Modern forestry generally
concerns itself with: assisting forests to provide timber as raw material for
wood products; wildlife habitat; natural water quality regulation; recreation;
landscape and community protection; employment; aesthetically appealing
landscapes; biodiversity management; watershed management; and a 'sink' for
atmospheric carbon dioxide. A practitioner of forestry is known as a forester.
Forest ecosystems have come to be seen as one of the most important components
of the biosphere, and forestry has emerged as a vital field of science, applied
art, and technology.
Activities
Foresters may be employed by industry, government agencies, conservation groups,
urban parks boards, citizens' associations, or private landowners. Industrial
foresters are predominantly involved in planning the timber harvests and forest
regeneration. Other foresters have the specific jobs which include a broad array
of responsibilities. For example, urban foresters work within city environments
to enhance urban trees with their unique needs.
Some foresters work in tree nurseries growing seedlings for regeneration
projects. Others are involved with tree genetics or developing new building
systems as forest engineers. The profession has expanded to include a wide
diversity of jobs, typically requiring a college bachelor's degree up to the PhD
level for highly specialized areas of work.
Traditionally, professional foresters develop and implement "forest
management plans". These plans rely on tree inventories showing an area's
topographical features as well as its distribution of trees (by species) and
other plant cover. They also include roads, culverts, proximity to human
habitation, hydrological conditions, and soil reports ecological sensitive
areas. Finally, forest management plans include the projected use of the land
and a timetable for that use.
Plans for harvest and subsequent site treatment are influenced by the objectives
of the land's owner or leaseholder (for instance, a timber company that holds
cutting rights to a given tract of land, or the government in the case of
state-owned forests). There is an increasing trend to consider the needs of
other stakeholders (e.g., nearby communities or neighborhoods, or rural
residents living within or adjacent to the forest tract). Plans are developed
with the prevailing forest harvest laws and regulations in mind. They ultimately
result in a prescription for the harvest of trees, and indicate whether road
building or other forest engineering operations are required.
Activities
Traditional forest management plans are chiefly aimed at providing logs as raw
material for timber, veneer, plywood, paper, wood fuel or other industries.
Hence, considerations of product quality and quantity, employment, and profit
have been of central, though not always exclusive, importance.
Foresters also frequently develop post-harvest site plans. These may call for
reforestation (tree planting by species), weed control, fertilization, or the
spacing of young trees (thinning of trees that are crowding one another).
While other duties of foresters may include preventing and combatting insect
infestation, disease, forest and grassland fires, there is an increasing
movement towards allowing these natural aspects of forest ecosystems to run
their course, where possible, usually excepting epidemics or risk of life or
property. Foresters are specialists in measuring and modelling the growth of
forests (forest mensuration). Increasingly, foresters may be involved in
wildlife conservation planning and watershed protection.
Today
Today a strong body of research exists regarding the management of forest
ecosystems, selection of species and varieties, and tree breeding. Forestry also
includes the development of better methods for the planting, protecting,
thinning, controlled burning, felling, extracting, and processing of timber. One
of the applications of modern forestry is reforestation, in which trees are
planted and tended in a given area.
In many regions the forest industry is of major ecological, economic, and social
importance. Third-party certification systems that provide independent
verification of sound forest stewardship and sustainable forestry have become
commonplace in many areas since the 1990s. These certification systems were
developed as a response to criticism of some forestry practices, particularly
deforestation in less developed regions along with concerns over resource
management in the developed world. Some certification systems are criticised for
primarily acting as marketing tools and lacking in their claimed independence.
In topographically severe forested terrain, proper forestry is important for the
prevention or minimization of serious soil erosion or even landsliding. In areas
with a high potential for landsliding, good forestry can act to prevent property
damage or loss, human injury, or loss of life.
Public perception of forest management has become controversial, with growing
public concern over perceived mismanagement of the forest and increasing demands
that forest land be managed for uses other than pure timber production, for
example, indigenous rights, recreation, watershed protection and preservation of
wilderness and wildlife habitat. Sharp disagreements over the role of forest
fires, logging, motorized recreation and others drives debate while the public
demand for wood products continues to increase.
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