A plantation is an area of trees (or sometimes other crops)
planted by humans, typically grown as an even-aged monoculture
for timber production, as opposed to a natural forest, where the
trees are usually of diverse species and diverse ages. A
plantation is not a natural ecosystem. Plantations are also
sometimes known as "man-made forests" or "tree farms", though
this latter term more typically refers to specialist tree
nurseries which produce the seedling trees used to create
plantations. A plantation is usually made up of fast-growing
trees planted either to replace already-logged forests or to
substitute for their absence. Plantations differ from natural
forests in several ways: - Plantations are usually monocultures.
That is, the same species of tree is planted in rows across a
given area, whereas a conventional forest would contain far more
diverse tree species. - Plantations may include unconventional
varieties of trees, including (in a few cases) hybrid trees and
genetically modified trees. Since the