ABSTRACT
Recycling of nutrients via plant litter fall plays an essential role in maintaining ecosystem productivity. The natural baseline of such ecological services is poorly known in many places, but once the forest is cleared and converted to agriculture or forestry, this recycling is greatly reduced and, where the crop is removed and where crop residues and biomass are removed for burning elsewhere, can be completely eliminated. The result is that soil ecosystem nutrient stores are steadily depleted without replenishment, so agricultural and forestry productivity steadily declines and can only be maintained by expensive importation of the lost nutrients.
