The coastal forest of Gabon abounds in monospecific secondary Aucoumea klaineana stands derived from natural regeneration after shifting cultivation. This paper aims to describe the changes in the structure and dynamics of these stands with age. It then assesses the impact of selective thinning in the upper storey on both structural and dynamic parameters.
The experiment consisted of 34 Permanent Plots in stands from establishment to more mature stages (ca. 50 years old). Thirteen plots (17–45 years old) were thinned. More than 80% of the removal came from supernumerary dominant A. klaineana.
A. klaineana represented 60% of the total density in stands ca. 15 years old but >90% of the dominant trees in older stands. The changes with age in the floristic composition of the unthinned stands showed three successional stages during which pioneer species associated with A. klaineana (from establishment to ca. 15 years) were progressively replaced by mature forest species.
Basal area increased and density decreased with age before reaching stable values at ca. 40–45 years. Mortality was very high in young stands but decreased in the older ones. Mortality generally affected small diameter individuals in the dominated storey. Diameter and basal area increments showed that the stand growth resulted from the growth of dominant A. klaineana. Diameter increments of A. klaineana were elevated during the first years of colonisation (1.9 cm/year) and were still ca. 0.7 cm/year for 50-year-old dominant trees.
Thinning did not increase the mortality of the dominant population. It favoured the individual growth of A. klaineana. The gain was substantial for dominated trees and small dominant trees (from 60 to 100%) but was lower for large dominant trees (ca. 25–30%). Therefore, stimulation of individual growth did not compensate for the loss of basal area at the stand level. 相似文献
Carbon stocks in vegetation replacing forest in Brazilian Amazonia affect net emissions of greenhouse gases from land-use change. A Markov matrix of annual transition probabilities was constructed to estimate landscape composition in 1990 and to project future changes, assuming behavior of farmers and ranchers remains unchanged. The estimated 1990 landscape was 5.4% farmland, 44.8% productive pasture, 2.2% degraded pasture, 2.1% ‘young’ (1970 or later) secondary forest derived from agriculture, 28.1% ‘young’ secondary forest derived from pasture, and 17.4% ‘old’ (pre-1970) secondary forest. The landscape would eventually approach an equilibrium of 4.0% farmland, 43.8% productive pasture, 5.2% degraded pasture, 2.0% secondary forest derived from agriculture, and 44.9% secondary forest derived from pasture. An insignificant amount is regenerated ‘forest’ (defined as secondary forest over 100 years old). Average total biomass (dry matter, including below-ground and dead components) was 43.5 t ha−1 in 1990 in the 410 × 103 km2 deforested by that year for uses other than hydroelectric dams. At equilibrium, average biomass would be 28.5 t ha−1 over all deforested areas (excluding dams). These biomass values are more than double those forming the basis of deforestation emission estimates currently used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Although higher replacement landscape biomass decreases net emissions from deforestation, these estimates still imply large net releases. 相似文献