Humans always like to stand in their own shoes and give "nicknames" to many creatures in nature. Among them, there is a tree that is very unpopular, and it is the eucalyptus tree.
Eucalyptus forest
Eucalyptus is often referred to as the tree of subjugation, the tree of broken children and grandchildren, and the tree of lack of virtue, and from these nicknames, it should be a very harmful tree. So why do humans still cultivate it?
The unpopular "eucalyptus tree"
Eucalyptus is not our native tree, but comes from Australia. Previously, the wildfires that lasted for months in Australia had the "contribution" of eucalyptus trees. In this way, eucalyptus is really not a "fuel-saving lamp", what exactly does it do to make people so disgusted?
First of all, eucalyptus trees are very fast and physically strong. Taking the wildfires in Australia as an example, after experiencing such a disaster, the first to "come back to life" is the eucalyptus tree. Therefore, eucalyptus, as an invasive species, can often show extraordinary combat effectiveness.
Forest fires
Secondly, some of the growth characteristics of eucalyptus have led people to give it these titles. The land where these guys are rooted will always be barren. Because the rapid growth of eucalyptus requires the best effort to absorb nutrients, resulting in a downward trend in soil fertility and moisture, people will say that it is a lack of virtue tree.
After all, when a party's fertile water and soil are damaged, it is very difficult to return to its previous state, is this not just to ignore one's "descendants" and do what is lacking in virtue? Under such influence, eucalyptus is also known as a pump and fertilizer pump.
Data show that the "eucalyptus controversy" first occurred in Indian academic circles. As early as 1981, Indian scholars Shiva et al. pointed out after studying eucalyptus plantations in India: "Eucalyptus extracts a large amount of water, which may lead to water depletion."
Thick roots
Finally, the "toxicity" of eucalyptus trees, taking the planting of large eucalyptus plantations in Guangxi as an example, the local people found that the ground where eucalyptus trees grew was grassless, in this case, people thought that there should be some kind of toxic substance in eucalyptus trees. Many superstitious villagers even say that if women drank water that flowed through eucalyptus plantations, they would not be able to give birth to boys.
Water resources near eucalyptus forests
The above is the main reason why eucalyptus trees are not popular, but it should be noted that many of them are actually people's misunderstandings of eucalyptus trees. For example, the claim that eucalyptus trees are poisonous is not scientific enough, and research has proved that its stems and leaves are non-toxic. The reason why the ground is bare is because the eucalyptus itself has a "persendosible substance" that may restrain the growth of certain plants, such as weeds and other substances.
Cao Panrong and Luo Shiming found that eucalyptus limona shed bark and leaf aqueous extracts, root secretions and leaf volatiles contained allopotent substances that inhibited the germination of radish seeds.
Plant-based allelopathic substances can restrain the growth of other plants
In short, most people have a "stereotype" of eucalyptus, and leaving aside these stereotypes, planting eucalyptus is more suitable for the development needs of the mainland and brings us good benefits.
Reasons for promoting the planting of artificial eucalyptus forests
Eucalyptus cultivation in China can be traced back to 1890, when eucalyptus was mainly introduced for landscaping, and the scale of planting was not large. In the 1950s, represented by the Guangxi Guangdong West Forest Farm, eucalyptus forests began to be planted in large areas in some areas.
According to statistics, as of 2020, the area of eucalyptus plantations in the country has reached 5.46 million hectares, accounting for 2.5% of the total forest area in the country, and its planting areas are mainly located in the south, especially in the two provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, which are the most.
Guangxi eucalyptus tree part of the planting area
As we said earlier, eucalyptus grows very fast, and "wood production" has always been among the best. In this case, eucalyptus was once known as the "green gold of the paper industry". With this, eucalyptus maintains the wood safety of the continent.
The data shows that the wood production efficiency of eucalyptus trees is 1.78 times that of poplar trees, 2.27 times that of fir trees, 3.57 times that of masson pine, and 5.88 times that of larch.
Eucalyptus trees that act as wood
After all, now we must achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible, and in the case of natural forest harvesting, we can only rely on fast-growing plantations. According to the research, eucalyptus annual wood production of 30 million cubic meters, mainly used for pulp and paper and wood-based panels, in these two fields of annual output value of up to 300 billion yuan, has a very mature industrial chain.
Eucalyptus industry chain
The existence of this industrial chain has also driven people in eucalyptus forest production areas to get rid of poverty and become rich, because from the planting and management of eucalyptus trees to the cutting and processing of wood, manpower is needed. So now many people's view of eucalyptus has changed, believing that it is a "good tree" that drives the economy and can provide a large number of jobs for poor areas.
Drive employment
In addition, the existence of eucalyptus also has the role of ecological protection, it can absorb a large amount of carbon dioxide, has a very high carbon sink function. Taking Guangxi as an example, under the condition of full planting eucalyptus forests, the total value of forest ecological services in Guangxi exceeded 850 billion yuan in 2010, the vast majority of which were contributed by eucalyptus trees. For poor land, eucalyptus trees also have the function of conserving water sources and preserving soil value.
Carbon sink function
In short, after comparing the advantages and disadvantages of eucalyptus, it can be seen that its advantages are significantly greater than its disadvantages. However, it should be noted that the unscientific cultivation of eucalyptus trees does have adverse effects, so it is necessary to pay attention to the density and scale of planting when planting.
Problems in eucalyptus plantations
When people were concerned about the huge benefits that eucalyptus plantations could bring, large-scale planting began. But this kind of planting is often aimed at profit, so it will lead to excessive density of eucalyptus forests, which will reduce the soil fertility of the land.
The irregular method of cultivation is total reclamation, in which case the fertile land has been wasted. And when the eucalyptus forest growth is completed, people in some areas will carry out "whole tree harvest", leaving only the underground root system of eucalyptus trees, and the rest are taken away. The ecology that had been difficult to recover from planting trees had become worse than before after such a toss.
Workers are cutting down eucalyptus trees
And the planting location of eucalyptus trees is also very exquisite, if it has been planted in the steep slopes of high mountains, and the mechanized operation is used when cutting eucalyptus trees in the later stage, it will naturally aggravate soil erosion. But people often don't understand, so they let eucalyptus carry the cauldron of "soil erosion".
Eucalyptus trees on steep slopes
In short, eucalyptus can bring us economic benefits, but this should be based on the premise of scientific planting and management. The short-term multi-belt continuous planting system used now makes eucalyptus forests have a variety of ecological problems after contributing wood, which is contrary to our original intention.
A large number of studies have shown that under the short-term continuous planting system, eucalyptus plantations generally adopt measures such as mountain refining, machine tillage and land preparation, high fertilizer input, large-scale spraying of herbicides, and short rotation. Under this mode of operation, the productivity of eucalyptus plantations operating for 1-3 generations can be basically maintained, but the soil force begins to degrade.
Mechanical logging
Therefore, the scientific planting and development of artificial eucalyptus forests on the mainland is particularly important. So, how can eucalyptus plantations be promoted as both "cash cows" and "ecological forests"?
Promote the scientific development of eucalyptus planting
Eucalyptus trees seem to have a strong two-sidedness, planted well is a "green ecological cash cow", and if it is not planted well, it becomes a tree with broken children or lack of virtue. Therefore, in order for it to exert the greatest benefits, it is necessary to carry out scientific planning and pay attention to its long-term development in the future.
"Cash Cow"
The first is to adjust the development layout, rationally use the land, and introduce laws on eucalyptus planting. In this case, it can curb the frequent chaos of eucalyptus planting, so that it can give full play to the advantages of fast growth and abundant yield, and achieve the replenishment of wood without causing damage to the ecological environment.
The second is to rationally regulate the market economy of eucalyptus. Because businessmen are profit-seeking, but the pursuit of profits will be too much, so that only the benefits are concerned, thus sacrificing the environment. Therefore, it will be more beneficial for the development of eucalyptus to maintain the economy in a relatively balanced state.
Eucalyptus view
The last is to strengthen ecological monitoring and shatter people's stereotypes of eucalyptus trees. As we said above, eucalyptus's various nicknames actually stem from people's misunderstanding of it, in fact, as long as it is planted scientifically, eucalyptus does not cause too bad an impact on the soil and the environment. Therefore, it is necessary for everyone to treat eucalyptus objectively and fairly, rather than nailing it to the "pillar of shame" according to the propaganda of three words and two words.
In general, the healthy development of eucalyptus plantations still has a long way to go, and it can be said that it is "obstructed and long". Whether it's breaking down prejudices or making eucalyptus more in line with our development needs, it requires the corresponding efforts of all.