What happens when the trees are cut down?
Nutrient supply generally becomes a serious problem, because: • most nutrients are very easily lost from land that is bare, farmed without shade trees or planted with a single species of tree (Manual 4); • many tropical soils contain limited supplies of nutrients; while • growth of plants can be greatly retarded if even one kind of nutrient is in short supply. So recycling of nutrients is one of several important reasons for having plenty of different kinds of trees (C 1; and D 30 and D 53 in Manual 4) in managed ecosystems.
