Effects of logging, drought, and fire on structure and composition of tropical forests in sabah, Malaysia
Extensive tracts of tropical rain forest were burnt in Borneo during the El Nino drought of 1983. Plots were established in adjacent or nearby burnt and unburnt areas in primary forest and in forests logged 2 or 6 yr before the fire in Sabah. Tree mortality from drought and fire was 38-94% in logged forests and 19-71% in primary forest; sapling mortality exceeded 80% in both forest types. Secondary succession after logging was truncated by fire so that the condition of both logged forests was similar. Fire differs from other gap forming processes by killing seedlings and saplings. This left the regeneration in burnt forest depauperate in species diversity and in upper-canopy species. Fire caused severe canopy loss in the logged forests and ground cover was dominated by grasses or woody creepers. Canopy loss was less severe in burnt primary forest and there was a low density of grasses. It is concluded that forest structure should recover in burnt primary forest although the species composition may be permanently changed. In forests logged before fire, the prospects for recovery of forest structure are not good (especially if further fires occur) and the forest could be converted to unproductive grassland.
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| Format: | Texto biblioteca |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | Sequía, Mortandad de árboles, El Niño oscilación del Sur, Disturbio ecológico, Incendios forestales, Desastres naturales, Selva lluviosa, |
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