Ecological Research (2001) 16, 497–507

century ecosystem model application for quantifying vege-

tation dynamics in shifting cultivation areas: A case study
from Rampa Forests, Eastern Ghats (India)
V. Krishna Prasad, Yogesh Kant and K. V. S. Badarinath*
IGBP Section, Applications, National Remote Sensing Agency, Department of Space, Government of
India, Balanagar, Hyderabad 500 037, India

In India, slash and burn agriculture is one of the major factors contributing to deforestation, espe-
cially in the hilly north-eastern region and Eastern Ghats. Studies on vegetation dynamics associ-
ated with slash and burn agricultural practices have been intensively studied in the north-eastern
part of India. These have covered semi-evergreen/evergreen vegetation, but similar studies on tropi-
cal mixed dry deciduous ecosystems are not as common. In the present study, we used the century
ecosystem model to study vegetation dynamics in shifting cultivation areas on the mixed dry
deciduous forests covering the Eastern Ghats of India. The site-specific parameters, temperature,
precipitation, biomass and nutrient pools were used, and, by collecting information from local man-
agement practices, a 12-year shifting cultivation cycle during a 70-year period from 1960 to 2030
was simulated. century estimated a total loss of 239 tonnes carbon (tC) in soil organic matter over
the simulation period, and the total nitrogen content of the soil organic matter showed an initial
increase followed by a decline (344.3 g m2 during 1960 to less than 318.3 g m2 during 2030).
century estimated that 66 tC ha-1 would be lost from the forest system, reducing the initial forest
system carbon level from 118.5 tC ha-1. An increase in productivity from 0.49 tC ha-1 during 1960
to 1.2 tC ha-1 during the initial forest slash and burn in 1962 was observed, but thereafter produc-
tivity declined to 0.7 tC ha-1 during the year 2030. Results obtained in other studies of similar types
of agricultural practices are also reviewed.

INTRODUCTION tivation in India annually (Task Force 1983).

The United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development (UNCED) identified tropical
deforestation in general, and slash and burn agri-
culture in particular, as global environmental con-
cerns. Biomass burning associated with shifting
cultivation in the tropics is a major contributor
of greenhouse gases (Andreae 1991). Some 240
million ha of closed forests and 170 million ha of
open forests are thought to be associated with some
form of shifting cultivation. This is approximately
30% of global arable land, which gives an idea of
the enormous size of the area affected. It is esti-
mated that 10 000 km2 is affected by shifting cul-
*Author to whom correspondence should be
addressed.
Received 19 April 2000.
Accepted 14 February 2001.
Further, in Andhra Pradesh, the rapid loss of
forests in recent times, from 1993 to 1995, esti-
mated to be 3822 km2, is mainly due to deforesta-
tion and shifting cultivation (SFR 1997). There is
uncertainty about carbon stocks in plants and soils
in terrestrial ecosystems (Post et al. 1990). Tropi-
cal forests hold 20–100 times more carbon per unit
area than agricultural lands (Houghton 1991).
Changes in land use, such as clearing forests
of existing vegetation or savanna, contributes to
the carbon release in two ways: (i) decomposi-
tion and oxidation of biomass from aboveground
and belowground materials; and (ii) oxidation
and mineralization of soil organic carbon and
humic substances contained in the soil (Lal et al.
1996). The carbon released through oxidation of
the biomass makes a direct contribution to
total CO2 emissions. Carbon dioxide is released
by subsequent decay of trees and other unburnt
debris and, with soil organic matter (SOM),
498 V. Krishna Prasad et al.
accounts for about one-quarter of the total carbon
released in deforested areas (Detwiler & Hall
1988).
Forest clearing also has several ecological
implications. Forest clearing uncouples the nutri-
ent cycle resulting in potentially large nutrient
losses from forests. Although there has been a
large amount of data collected with respect to lab-
oratory and field studies on ecosystem dynamics
following fire and shifting cultivation (from
different types of ecosystems all over the globe),
in India such studies are limited to a particular
type of ecosystem (Ramakrishnan 1992). In
order to explore the possible responses of forest
ecosystems to various land use practices, such as
shifting cultivation, simulation models play an
important role. Studies with respect to modeling
ecosystem dynamics caused by shifting cultivation
over different ecosystems gain importance in
the context of increasing deforestation rates and
reduced revisit periods during shifting cultivation
cycles.
In the present study, an attempt has been made
to study forest cover dynamics over shifting culti-
vation areas in tropical dry deciduous forests using
the century agroecosystem model (version 4.0).
The century ecosystem model was developed
by Parton et al. (1987) for simulation of produc-
tion, decomposition and carbon storage in grass-
lands, with a major focus on soil organic matter
dynamics, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and
sulfur biogeochemistry. The century model has
been modified for forests by Sanford et al. (1991)
and has been well applied over different forest
ecosystems to simulate forest cover dynamics
(Pulliam et al. 1997). The model is composed of
five organic matter pools, two of which represent
litter or crop residues and the remaining three
representing soil organic matter. The soil organic
matter is divided into three fractions: (i) an active
fraction, which has a rapid turnover rate and con-
sists of microbial biomass and metabolites; (ii) a
slow fraction, with an intermediate turnover time,
which represents stablized decomposition prod-
ucts; and (iii) a passive fraction, which represents
the highly stablized, recalcitrant organic matter.
First order rate constants, depending on soil
temperature and moisture, are used to represent
the decomposition rates. The century model has
submodels for estimating plant growth and soil
water balance. The submodels provide information
on plant litter inputs and climatic variables for
soil organic matter computations. Plant growth
is expressed as a function of growing season
precipitation. Details of the century agroeco-
system model are discussed by Metherell et al.
(1993).
METHODS
Study area
The study area forms the hilly northern part of the
East Godavari District (Eastern Ghats), Andhra
Pradesh, India (Fig. 1). The area is popularly called
Agency and constitutes the Rampa Revenue Divi-
sion with seven ‘mandals’. A mandal is a political
boundary of an area below the district level,
consisting of a few hundred square kilometers.
The forests of the study area are southern dry
mixed deciduous forests (type 5A/C3; group 5,
subgroup 5A) and southern tropical forests (group
6, subgroup 6A) as classified by Champion &
Seth (1968). Of the 30 series recognized and
described by Gaussen’s holistic system of vegeta-
tion (Gaussen 1959; 1973), the dominant forests
of the study area correspond to the Terminalia-
Anogeissus-Cleistanthes collinus series (series 9). The
other major species include Xylia xylocarpa
(Roxb.) Taub., Dillenia pentagyna (Roxb.),
Mangifera indica L., Strychnos nuxvomica L., Ptero-
carpus marsupium Roxb., Ficus tinctoria Forst.f.,
Pavetta indica L., Canthium parviflorum Lam.,
Chloroxylon swietenia DC, Lannea coromandelica
(Houtt.) Merr., Macaranga peltata (Roxb.) Muell-
Arg., Mitragyna parviflora (Roxb.) Korth. and
Grewia tilaefolia Vahl. In addition, scrub forests
contain species of Carissa spinarum L., Zizyphus
oenoplia (L.) Mill., Phoenix loureirii Kunth.,
Dichrostachys cinerea (L.) Wt. &.Arn., Prosopis
cineraria L.Druce., Acacia nilotica (L.) Willd.ex
Del., Randia dumetorum (Retz.) Poir. and Cordia
dichotoma Forst. f. The parent rocks of the study
area are khondalites and charnockites. The soils are
classified as fine loamy typic haplustalfs at the sites
of moderately dense vegetation and loamy skeletal
lithic/typic ustochrepts at the sites of sparse vege-
tation (NRSA 1994). The terrain is hilly and the
elevation ranges from 150 m to 1600 m.
 Century ecosystem modelling 499

INDIA

ANDHRA PRADESH

Hyderabad

Rampa Agency
1 1. Y.Ramavaram Mandal
2. Maredumulli Mandal
3. Devipatnam Mandal
2
4. Rampachodavaram Mandal
6
1 5. Addaugala Mandal
4
3 6. Gangavaram Mandal
5
7. Rajavommangl Mandal

Fig. 1. Location map. East Godavari District

Shifting cultivation in the study area parameters used for the initialization are shown in
Tables 1–3. The maximum and minimum tem-
The local inhabitants of the study area practice
peratures were obtained by averaging the daily
shifting cultivation locally known as ‘podu’. The
maximum and minimum temperature for individ-
practice consists of clearing the forests during
ual months over a period of 50 years (which were
November and December, allowing the felled
available for the study area from the Indian
biomass to dry until early March or the end of May.
Meteorological Department). Data pertaining to
The biomass is consequently burnt for clearing of
site-specific parameters for soil and plant values,
land before sowing. Mixed cropping is preferred
including litter, above and belowground carbon
and harvesting starts by October. After harvesting,
and nitrogen, and leaf, branch and stem carbon and
the plot is abandoned and another patch is selected
nitrogen were obtained from previous studies
to start the cycle again. The average shifting cul-
(Krishna Prasad et al. 1998a,b,c, 2000). Since data
tivation cycle in the study area is approximately
with respect to fine root and coarse root compo-
12 years; however, at some of the sites the cycle has
nents were not available for the study area, we used
been reduced down to less than 2.5–3.0 years.
data obtained from the studies of Singh et al.
(1992) for typical dry deciduous forests. The adop-
Model initiation
tion of these values in the present study area is jus-
The model was initialized using site-specific infor- tifiable, as the other parameters, such as above and
mation on climate, soils and forest ecosystems. The belowground biomass and nutrient components,
500 V. Krishna Prasad et al.

Table 1 Climate inputs Table 3 Tree parameters used for dry deciduous
forests in century model simulation
Temperature Precipitation
Maximum Minimum (cm month–1) Carbon : nitrogen ratios for different components
Min Max Initial
January 30.2 26.5 1.15 Leaves 30 40.0 40.6
February 31.0 21.4 1.60 Branch 120 180.0 84.0
March 33.6 24.2 1.15 Stem 150 300 155
April 36.7 25.6 1.44 Fine root 40.0 60.0 76.0
May 37.8 27.8 6.78 Coarse root 150 300 155
June 37.7 28.3 1.56
Carbon allocation fraction
July 33.0 26.2 9.79
Juvenile Mature
August 32.5 26.0 21.8
Leaves 0.25 0.34
September 32.2 25.3 14.4
Branch 0.10 0.11
October 31.9 24.9 17.1
Stem 0.30 0.22
November 30.2 22.1 8.94
Fine root 0.25 0.25
December 28.5 19.8 0.29
Coarse root 0.10 0.08
Monthly death rate fraction for forest components
Leaves 0.95
Table 2 Site-specific parameters used for dry decidu- Fine roots 0.030
ous forests in century model simulation Fine branches 0.014
Large wood 0.0010
Soils Coarse roots 0.0020
Sand 0.24
Silt 0.22
Clay 0.54
Bulk density (gm-2) 1.3
pH 5.1
the initial amounts of carbon, nitrogen and soil
Initial plant values organic matter (SOM) pools (Parton et al. 1989
Surface litter (carbon : nitrogen ratio) 43.0 Burke et al. 1990). In the model it has been
Surface residue (gm-2) 230 assumed that the initial cycle of shifting cultiva-
Aboveground nitrogen (gm-2) 83.2 tion started in 1961, with a repeated revisit cycle
Belowground carbon (gm-2) 2693
of every 12 years up to 2030. The management
Belowground nitrogen (gm-2) 17.8
Live leaf carbon (gm-2) 375 history of shifting cultivation followed in the
Live leaf nitrogen (gm-2) 12.02 present study is based on information from local
Live branch carbon (gm-2) 3702 tribes in the study area and historical land use
Live branch nitrogen (gm-2) 60.3 records. The results simulated in 1960 were taken
Live stem carbon (gm-2) 6400 as a starting point for future simulations. The base-
Live stem nitrogen (gm-2) 49.1 line changes in forest dynamics have been modeled
Live fine root carbon (gm-2) 540.0 without changing the CO2 and climate conditions,
Live fine root nitrogen (gm-2) 49.1 and have been modeled using the site-specific para-
Live coarse root carbon (gm-2) 2010 meters (Tables 1–3). In the present study, we did
Live coarse root nitrogen(gm-2) 27.2 not consider the climatic variability due to the low
levels of variability in the meteorological datasets
over a period of years. Based on meteorological
records maintained during 1901–1982 for 73 sta-
agreed well with the studies of Singh et al. (1992). tions in India, studies by Lal et al. (1993) suggest
The monthly death rate fractions reported for that there is no regular warming or regular cooling
typical dry deciduous forests by Metherell et al. trend for the entire region. Of the 73 stations, 30
(1993) have been adopted. Using long-term cli- stations have shown warming trends and 6 have
matic averages, the model has been run to equi- shown significant cooling trends. Interestingly,
librium under forest vegetation, so as to establish most of the areas have shown no significant trend
 Century ecosystem modelling 501

in temperature change, and the study area is one
of them. Field studies on the response of forest
parameters to changing climatic variables in
general, and responses due to elevated CO2 condi-
tions, have not been attempted for tropical decid-
uous forests, and these are needed for validation of
the model outputs. Considering this, in the
present study we ignore climatic variability and
possible effects on simulating forest cover dynam-
ics over a period of time.
during 1960. One of the important features
noticed in the simulation study was the initial
increase in soil organic carbon, followed by a
decline during all the shifting cultivation cycles
(Fig. 2). The century model results suggested
that during the 70-year period there was an
approximately 239 tC loss in soil organic matter.
Although in between every cycle there was an
increase in soil carbon due to fallow regrowth, the
effect of repeated shifting cultivation was a con-

RESULTS

Nifrogen (g/m2)
We simulated the forest cover dynamics of tro-
pical deciduous forests under the influence of
repeated shifting cultivation practices from 1961
onwards, with a repeated revisit cycle of every 12
years up to 2030 (Figs 2–8). Baseline changes in
forest cover dynamics that were predicted to occur
over every 12 year period were caused mainly by
repeated disruption of the plant–soil ecosystem. Fig. 4. Total nitrogen in the forest system (projected
The steady state equilibrium was assumed to occur figures).
Carbon (g/m2)
Carbon (g/m2)

Fig. 5. Total carbon in the forest system (projected

figures).

Fig. 2. Soil organic matter: carbon (projected figures).

Carbon (g/m2) per month
Nifrogen (g/m2)

Fig. 3. Nitrogen in the forest system live components Fig. 6. Monthly carbon production in the forest
(projected figures). system (projected figures).
 502 V. Krishna Prasad et al.
Carbon (g/m2)
Fig. 7. Carbon in the forest system live components
(projected figures).
Nitrogen (g/m2) per month
Fig. 8. Monthly nitrogen production in the forest
system (projected figures).
stant overall decline in soil carbon. This continu-
ous loss may be attributed to increased decompo-
sition due to forest clearing and increased leaching
in the active pool.
Nitrogen in live forest system components and
total nitrogen in the forest system showed an
initial increase(Figs 3 and 4) followed by a decline.
The total nitrogen, which was 344.3 g m-2 during
1960, dropped to less than 318.3 g m-2 during
2030 (Fig. 3).
The total carbon stock of the original forest in
the study area was 63.56 tC ha-1 in 1960. Most of
the loss in carbon stock results from land prepara-
tion prior to the first cultivation for the shifting
cultivation practice, during which forests are
cleared. The century model predicted a loss of
66 tC ha-1 from the total forest from the initial
forest of 118.5 tC ha-1. During the initial forest cut
and burn the loss was approximately 52.0 tC ha-1
(Fig. 5). Although secondary successional species
grew during the years following a slash and burn,
the cropping and abandonment of the fallow land
according to the 12 year revisit cycle meant that
the total forest carbon showed an overall loss of
more than 78 tC ha-1 up to the year 2030.
Carbon in the forest system live components,
which was approximately 63.4 tC ha-1 during
1960, was reduced to 17.8 tC ha-1 in 2030,
suggesting a loss of approximately 45.6 tC ha-1
(Fig. 7). From the results, it can be seen that due
to the repeated agricultural cycle at the sites,
carbon and nitrogen levels in the soil and the forest
never returned to the initial levels, probably due
to the repeated disruption of plant soil dynamics.
In contrast to carbon in the soil organic matter,
total nitrogen and forest system carbon, the net
carbon production (Fig. 7) and nitrogen uptake
in the forest system (Fig. 8) showed an overall
increase over the simulation period. An increase
in carbon productivity from 49 g m-2 month-1
during 1960 to 120 g m-2 month-1 during
the initial forest cut and burning in 1962
was observed. However, carbon productivity stabi-
lized at 70 g m-2 month-1 during the year 2030, at
a slightly higher level than the initial value.
This is similar to the levels of nitrogen uptake
in the forest ecosystem, which increased up to
1.7 g m-2 month-1 from an initial level of
0.7 g m-2 month-1, and stabilized to approximately
of 0.9 g m-2 month-1. This slight increase in carbon
productivity and nitrogen uptake in the forests
has been attributed to the increased availability
of soil organic carbon during the initial forest
clearing and to the nutrients made available
during the clear cuts and burning.
DISCUSSION
Soil organic carbon dynamics
The initial increase in soil organic carbon when the
forests are initially cut and burnt has been attr-
ibuted to various causes. Nutrients are stored in
organic forms (nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur)
and held in the mineral form on the exchange sites
of the SOM (Palm et al. 1996). After the slash and
burn, the organic inputs to the soil come from the
dead roots of the cut vegetation and the above-
ground biomass that is partially burnt or unburnt.
Furthermore, decaying roots from felled and
burned forest vegetation may contribute to
initial increase in soil organic matter following

agricultural practices and subsequent fallows.
Similar results were reported by Ewel et al. (1981)
from a carefully controlled slash and burn experi-
ment in Costarica, and by Araki (1993) in
Northern Zambia. The fine roots decompose
rapidly, producing an immediate effect on nutri-
ent release and labile fractions of soil organic
matter (Veldcamp 1994).
The general model of the slash and burn system
is that decomposition increases following forest
clearing because of changes in microclimate (Palm
et al. 1996). The soil organic submodel of the
century is based on multiple compartments of
soil organic matter, and include three soil organic
matter pools: (i) active; (ii) slow; and (iii) passive.
The active pool represents soil microbes and
microbial products and has a turnover time of
months to a few years, depending on the environ-
ment and sand content. The slow pool includes
resistant plant material derived from the structural
pool, and soil-stablized microbial products derived
from active and surface microbial pools, and has a
turnover time of 20–50 years. The passive pool is
very resistant to decomposition and includes phys-
ically and chemically stablized soil organic matter,
with a turnover time of 400–2000 years (Parton
et al. 1989). In addition to these pools, there are
others, which include above- and belowground
litter pools and a surface microbial pool that is
associated with decomposing surface litter.
In the century model, the major impact of
fire is to increase the root to shoot ratio and the
carbon : nitrogen ratio of the live shoots and roots,
remove vegetation, and to return nutrients during
the years when fires occur (Ojima et al. 1990). The
fraction of products from the decomposition of the
active pool is lost as leached organic matter, and
leaching of organic matter is a function of the rate
of decay for active soil organic matter and the clay
content of the soil. The decreasing levels of soil
organic carbon during the fallow regrowth period
predicted in the present study by the century
model are consistent with the results obtained by
Ramakrishnan 1992) in a study of shifting culti-
vation ecosystems in early successional fallows up
to approximately 5 years, at Burnihat in north-
eastern India. This trend is attributed to a low
return of litter during the initial colonization and
regrowth of the vegetation, due to successional
species such as Eupatorium odoratum and Imperata
Century ecosystem modelling 503
cylindrica, and also to faster decomposition due to
the openness of these sites.
The decline in carbon content following forest
clearing for cultivation may occur due to three
factors: (i) high topsoil temperature leading to
higher decomposition rates; (ii) lower inputs; and
(iii) increased soil organic carbon oxidation caused
by tillage (Tinker et al. 1996). In addition to the
in situ oxidation of soil organic carbon, accelerated
erosion increases soil organic carbon loss from the
site by selectively removing the carbon rich surface
horizon. Several studies (Ayanaba et al. 1976; Ewel
et al. 1981; Bonde et al. 1991a; Ramakrishnan
1992) have followed changes in soil organic matter
following conversion of tropical forests to agricul-
ture. A synthesis of these studies indicates a
decrease of 17–27% in soil organic matter in the
top 40 cm during the cropping phase of shifting
cultivation, and estimates that it would take 35
years to recover the SOM content of the primary
forest (Detwiler 1986). A carbon loss of 19.38%
predicted by the century model for tropical dry
deciduous forests is in accordance with these
results.
Declines in soil organic carbon and microbial
biomass carbon associated with land clearing and
subsequent management have been reported in
several studies (Lal et al. 1986; Persson & Mattson
1988; Follett & Schimel 1989; Srivastava &
Singh 1989; Post & Mann 1990). In addition, a
literature review suggests that the observed losses
of soil organic carbon from managed ecosystems
are greater in semi arid environments than in
humid lowlands. At various Tropical Soil Bio-
logical and Fertility (TSBF) program sites,
Woomer et al. 1994) noted that land disturbance
resulted in decreased soil microbial biomass and
increased turnover rates of soil organic matter.
Although most studies report a general trend in
loss of soil carbon following the use of a shifting
cultivation cycle (Srivastava & Singh 1989; Post &
Mann 1990; Ramakrishnan 1992), it is difficult
to generalize the status of soil organic matter soil
carbon. With respect to the dynamics of soil
organic carbon in the shifting cultivation sites,
many variations have been reported, and stability
in soil organic matter within such sites is not uni-
versal. A detailed comparison of different cycles
under different ecosystems was discussed by Palm
et al. (1996) and Kotto-Same et al. (1997). Ayanaba
504 V. Krishna Prasad et al.
et al. (1976) found losses of 10–30% in soil organic
matter following two years of maize cultivation,
with and without return of residues, compared
with a bush fallow. Andriesse & Schelhaas (1987)
reported soil carbon losses from slash and burn to
a depth of 75 cm as high as 21 t ha-1 in Thailand
and 15 t ha-1 in Sri Lanka. Woomer et al. (1994)
reported soil carbon losses of 8 t ha-1 year-1 due to
slash and burn of coastal sand dunes in Mozam-
bique. Ramakrishnan & Toky (1981) reported that
soil organic carbon contents were greater in 30 year
fallows than in plots affected by 5 year shifting
cultivation in north-east India, and that the soil
carbon in the longer fallows was subject to greater
losses during land clearing and cultivation.
Sanchez et al. (1983) found a decrease of 30% in
soil organic carbon in one year following clearing
and burning an ultisol in the Amazon. Bonde et al.
(1991a) in contrast found increase in total soil
carbon after years under tropical pasture in the
Brazilian Amazon. A detailed study in equatorial
forest zones of west and central Africa, particularly
in Southern Cameroon, comparing different land
uses along slash and burn chronosequences illus-
trate that bulk carbon loss in the forests resulted
from the clearing of natural vegetation, and that
during traditional long fallows, the soil organic
matter content was not greatly affected (Woomer
et al. 1996). Woomer et al. (1996), observed that
soil carbon pools remained relatively stable
throughout a slash and burn cycle, decreasing from
76 to 67 t ha-1, within four years in primary forest
and young fallow, and returning to initial levels
within 13 additional years of natural regrowth.
They also noted that, without appreciable loss of
soil organic carbon from the soils, the forest ecosys-
tem carbon losses might be massive.
Differences in SOM soil carbon levels in differ-
ent land use practices are partially attributable to
differences in the amounts of inputs and soil tex-
tural properties, such as variations in clay content.
The Brazilian oxisol has a clay content of more
than 60% (Bonde et al. 1991a), while that of
Nigerian alfisol (Ayanaba et al. 1976) and the
Peruvian ultisol (Sanchez et al. 1983) is below
20%. In general, clayier soils retain a higher per-
centage of organic inputs (Sorenson 1981). Fur-
thermore, although leaching is thought to be a
major factor in causing losses of nutrients follow-
ing clearing, studies on actual measurements of
leaching and denitrification are few because
of methodological difficulties. Leaching and
denitrification have been measured as 43 kg ha-1
year-1 and 50 kg ha-1 year-1, respectively, in
cleared areas as opposed to 14 kg ha-1 year-1 and
4 kg ha-1 year-1 in an undisturbed forest (Jordan et
al. 1983).
Therefore, it is clear that any predictive under-
standing of the losses or gains in SOM must, in
addition to amounts of inputs, take in to account
clay content, soil type, climatic conditions and
management following clearing (e.g. length of
cropping and fallow stages, tillage and residue
management), which are all incorporated in the
century ecosystem model.
Nitrogen dynamics
Although forest soils contain large amounts of
nitrogen, it is generally in an unavailable form,
and must first be mineralized (i.e. converted
to nitrate nitrogen or ammonia). Pioneering
researchers like Eneroth (1928) proposed that
burning has a favorable effect on nitrification.
During the process of burning, only the microbes
in the surface soil are destroyed, while those at
greater depths survive and soon repopulate the
surface soil. As a result of burning, the number
of microbes in the surface layers of the soil
increases (Ahlgren & Ahlgren 1965). Burning also
has a favorable effect on the acidity and tempera-
ture of the soil, activating microbial activity. In the
century model, the nitrogen submodel has the
same structure as that of carbon submodel. The net
mineralization of nitrogen results mainly from the
decomposition of metabolic residues and from
active, slow and passive pools, based on the
carbon : nitrogen ratio of the state variables and the
microbial respiration loss for each flow. Similar to
soil organic carbon, a review of the literature sug-
gests that there are large variations in nitrogen
mineralization rates following forest clearing
during different phases of cultivation. Several
studies indicate that initial rapid mineralization
rates are associated with clearing and burning, and
are followed by a reduction in mineralization rates
(Palm et al. 1996). Mueller-Harvey et al. (1985)
found nitrogen mineralizaton in the first year
following clearing to be 39 kg ha-1 month-1, three
times higher than in the second year. Similarly,

studies by Matson et al. (1987) found a 45% min-
eralization rate, which was higher than the rate in
a secondary forest. The results obtained for nitro-
gen dynamics in the present study closely follow
those for soil organic carbon, with an initial
increase followed by decline. However, Saxena &
Ramakrishnan (1986) found a two-fold increase
in nitrification rates following clearing, but a
decrease to less than half that in the forest follow-
ing burning.
Forest carbon dynamics
When virgin forests are cleared for various pur-
poses, the carbon pool most vulnerable to loss is
the above-ground biomass, as observed in simula-
tions for the present study. Similar findings have
been reported by Kauffman et al. (1994) in Brazil
when Amazonian forest was converted to pasture,
Saldarriaga et al. (1988) in the upper Rio Negro of
South America during long-term forest recovery,
Toky & Ramakrishnan (1983a,b) in secondary suc-
cession studies following slash and burning in
North-eastern India, and by Ewel et al. (1981) in
Costa Rica.
Productivity and fallow recovery
The productivity of the secondary forest was
comparatively higher when compared to the
original forest of 1960. The slight increase in
the rate of production observed for the forests in
the study area has been attributed to the faster
regrowth of species such as Holarrhena pubescens and
Xylia xylocarpa in the study area. Similar conclu-
sions have been drawn in studies of shifting culti-
vation areas in north-east India (Ramakrishnan
1993).
From the results it is evident that secondary
vegetation is disrupted repeatedly due to revisit
periods for shifting cultivation purposes. These
periods are gradually decreasing to 2–5 years.
Therefore, it may be concluded that the failure of
many current slash and burn systems is a result of
long-term disturbance in the soil vegetation con-
tinuum through increased cropping and decreas-
ing fallow periods. An understanding of this
process, using quantitative ecosystem modeling
with respect to vegetation dynamics, will help in
the design of agricultural systems that are more
Century ecosystem modelling 505
efficient and sustainable than slash and burn agri-
culture.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to the century ecosys-
tem model group, Colorado State University, Col-
orado, USA for providing the model. V. Krishna
Prasad and Yogesh Kant are grateful to the ISRO-
GBP for providing the fellowship.
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