Canopy Gap phase regeneration: A study in moist temperate forests of Central Himalayas, India

Shalini Dhyani, R K Maikhuri, K S Rao

Article ID: 838
Vol 1, Issue 1, 2018

VIEWS - 633 (Abstract) 377 (PDF)

Abstract


Broad leaved forests continuously have some asynchronous and localized disturbance events.Tree fall gaps are the dominant form of such disturbances in these forests. Moist temperate forests dominated by Quercus leucotricophora in Garhwal were investigated for study. Ten random transect belts were established in a mixed broadleaved forest patch. The forest comprised of gaps, created by various natural processes. Gaps varied in size ranging from 48 to 589 m2. Microclimatic and edaphic variables of canopy gap and understorey areas were recorded to assess the parameters that influence gap phase regeneration. Forests of the studyarea comprised of gaps that varied in size and shape. Light intensity, soil moisture and soil temperature were prime micro-climatic variables influencing species recruitment in gaps.Species assemblage was recorded higher from gaps than forest understorey (20 and 17 tree species, respectively). Overall recruitment of tree species in understorey and canopy gaps was 3054 seedling ha-1 and 2277 saplings ha-1, respectively. The results obtained during our study show that gap formation process in moist temperate forests of Garhwal promotes a strong but temporary variations in microclimatic environment. This heterogeneity factor determines the biological diversity but needs more long term systematic research in Garhwal for better understanding.

Keywords


Forest disturbance, Gap phase regeneration, Garhwal Himalaya, Moist temperate forests

Full Text:

PDF


References


1. Alvarez-Buylla, ER, Garcı´a-Barrios R. 1991. Seed and forest dynamics: a theoretical framework and an example from the neotropics. American Naturalist 137:133-154.

2. Braker HE, Chazdon RL. 1992. Ecological, behavioral, and nutritional factors influencing use of palms as host plants by a Neotropical forest grasshopper. Journal of Tropical Ecology 9:181–195.

3. Brokaw NVL. 1982 a. The definition of tree fall gaps and its effect on measures of forest dynamics. Biotropica 11: 158-60.

4. Brokaw NVL. 1985. Gap phase regeneration in a tropical forest. Ecology 66: 682-687.

5. Brokaw NVL. 1985. Treefalls, regrowth, and community structure in Tropical forests. Pages 53–69 In: S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, editors. The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Academic Press, San Diego, California, USA.

6. Brokaw N, Busing RT. 2000. Niche versus chance and tree diversity in forest gaps. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 15:183-188.

7. Chazdon RL, Fetcher N. 984. Photosynthetic light environments in a lowland tropical rain forest in Costa Rica. Journal of Ecology 72:553–564.

8. Coates KD. 2000. Conifer seedling response to northern temperate forest gaps. Forest Ecology and Management 127: 249-269.

9. Deb Panna, Sundriyal RC. 2007. Tree species gap phase performance in the buffer zone area of Namdapha National Park, Eastern Himalaya, India. Tropical Ecology 48: 209-225.

10. Denslow JS. 1987. Tropical rainforest gaps and tree species diversity. Annual review of Ecological Systems 18: 431-451.

11. Dinerstein, E. 1997. A Framework for identifying high Priority Areas and Actions for Conservation of Tiger in the Wild. WWF, WCS, NFWF.

12. Henle K, Davies KF, Kleyer M, Margules C, Settele J. 2004a. Predictors of species sensitivity to fragmentation. Biodiversity and Conservation 13: 207-251.

13. Hubbell SP, Foster RB. 1986. Biology, chance and history and the structure of tropical rainforest tree communities. In: Community Ecology. Diamond J, Case TJ (Eds.), Harper and Row, New York. pp. 314-29.

14. Kern CC, Montgomery RA, Reich PB, Strong TF. 2013. Canopy gap size influences niche partitioning of the ground-layer plant community in a northern temperate forest Journal of Plant Ecology 6: 101-112.

15. Latif ZA, Blackburn GA. 2010. The effects of gap size on some microclimate variables during late summer and autumn in a temperate broadleaved deciduous forest. International Journal of Biometerology 54:119-129

16. Lieberman D, Liberman M, Peralta R, Harshorn GS, 1996. Tropical forest structure and composition on a large-scale altitudinal gradient in Costa Rica. Journal of Ecology 84: 137-152.

17. Lima RAF. 2005. Gap size measurement: The proposal of a new field method. Forest Ecology and Management 214: 413-419.

18. Major KC, Nosko P, Kuehne C, Campbell D, Bauhus J. 2013. Regeneration dynamics of non- native northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) populations as influenced by environmental factors: A case study in managed hardwood forests of southwestern Germany. Forest Ecology and Management 291: 144-153.

19. McCarthy J. 2001. Gap dynamics of forest trees: A review with particular attention to boreal forests. Environmental Review 9: 1–59.

20. McCune B, Mefford MJ. 1999. PC-ORD: Multivariate analysis of ecological data. Version 4. MjM Software Design, Gleneden Beach; OR.

21. Misra S. 2009. Impact of natural and man-made disturbances on vegetation structure and diversity in Guptakashi range of Kedarnath Forest Division, Uttarakhand. Ph.D. Thesis, Forest Research Institute.

22. Murray KG. 1988. Avian seed dispersal of three neotropical gap-dependent plants. Ecological Monographs 58:271-298.

23. Oliver CD, Larson BC. 1996. Forest Stand Dynamics, update edition. Mc Graw-Hill Book Company, New York.

24. Ou Y, Su Z. 2012. Dynamics of canopy structure and understory light in montane evergreen broadleaved forest following a natural disturbance in North Guangdong. Shengtai Xuebao/ Acta Ecologica Sinica 32 (18), pp. 5637-5645.

25. Pielou EC 1984. The interpretation of ecological data: a primer on classification and ordination. John Wiley and Sons, New York. pp. 263.

26. Prabhakar R, Somanathan E, Singh Mehta B. 2006. How degraded are Himalayan forests? Current Science 91: 61-67.

27.

28. Runkle, J. R. 1982. Patterns of disturbance in some old-growth mesic forests of eastern North America. Ecology 63(5): 1533-1546.

29. Runkle JR 1990. Gap dynamics in an Ohio Acer-Fagus forest and speculations on the geography of disturbance. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 20: 632-641.

30. Sanford RL, Braker HE, Hartshorn GS. 1986. Canopy openings in a primary Neotropical lowland forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology 2: 277–282.

31. Misra S, Maikhuri RK, Dhyani D, Rao KS. 2009. Assessment of traditional rights, local interferences and natural resource management issues in Garhwal part of Indian Himalayan Region. International Journal of Sustainable development and World Ecology 16: 404-416

32. Slik JWF, Kebler PJA, van Welzen PC. 2003. Macaranga and Mallotus species (Euphorbiaceae) as indicators for disturbance in the mixed lowland dipterocarp forest of East Kalimantan (Indonesia). Ecological Indicators 2: 311-324.

33. Ter Braak CJF. 1987. The analysis of vegetation-environment relations by canonical correspondence analysis. Vegetatio 69: 69-77.

34. Uhl C, Clark K, Dezzeo N, Maquirrino P. 1988. Vegetation dynamics in Amazonian treefall gaps. Ecology 69:751–763.

35. Veihmeyer FJ, Hendrickson AH. 1931. The moisture equivalent as a measure of field capacity of soils. Soil Science 32: 181-194.

36. Whitmore TC. 1996. A review of some aspects of tropical rainforest seedling ecology with suggestions for further enquiry. In: Ecology of Tropical Forest Tree Seedlings, Swaine, M.D. (Eds.). UNESCO/Parthenon, Paris/Canforth. pp. 3-39.

37. Yamamoto S. 1995. Gap characteristics and gap regeneration in a subalpine old-growth Coniferous forests, Central Japan. Ecological Research (Tokyo) 10: 31-39.

38. Yamamoto S. 2000. Forest gap dynamics and tree regeneration. Journal of Forest Research 5: 223-229.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.24294/sf.v1i4.838

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2018 Shalini Dhyani, R K Maikhuri, K S Rao

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

This site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.