FACULTY OF INTERNATIONAL TROPICAL FORESTRY

FC10403
Forest Ecology

Growth & Forest structure

 Outline of this lecture
• Brief overview of the structure of a tropical
forest
• (More details in the field trip)
• Tree
• Form & how trees grow
• Light and light requirements
 FOREST High degree of structural complexity
STRATIFICATION
Emergent layer
Independent
Canopy layer

Sub-canopy layer TALL

TREES
Understorey
Forest floor

Dependent

epiphytes SMALL TREES

AND SHRUBS

climbers
Herbs and
undershrubs
 Its all about the trees
Biomass in a tropical rainforest

Plant biomass in an Amazonian rainforest

Component Biomass (t ha-1) %
Understorey 0.5 0.2
Palms 16.6 4.9
Vines 0.6 0.2
Trees 320 94.7
Total 337.7
How we managed our forests
determines if our cake will still have
any icing (Orang Utans and other
charismatic mega fauna).
Forest management/land-use decisions will
affect whether we retain viable
populations of our charismatic
mega-fauna
 TREE
• Woody plant > 6 m tall at
maturity
• Single trunk; unbranched for
part (lower part) of the
trunk
• With more or less a defined
crown
• Tallest and most massive
plants of the world
• Long-lived and survive
seasonal changes in the
climate
 EXCURRENT
TREE FORM (monopodial)
DECURRENT
(Sympodial)
Tree form: decurrent
• The major tree form
• Results from weak apical control.
• Multiple forking of the terminal leader
• Several to many lateral branches that compete with
the central stem for dominance resulting in a
spreading crown shape.
• Growth of the lateral branches is as fast or faster
than the terminal leader
• Most hardwood trees have decurrent forms..
 Decurrent Tree
(sympodial)

Asam Jawa Durian (Durio zibethinus) Tembusu (Fagraea fragrans)

(Tamarindus indica)
Tualang (Koompassia excelsa) Alan (Shorea albida)
 Tree form:
excurrent
(monopodial)
• Excurrent trees have
strong apical control
• a terminal leader that
does not fork and grows Eucalyptus sp.
consistently faster than
lateral branches,
resulting in a crown of
conical shape
• (e.g. most conifers and
some hardwoods, e.g.
Eucalyptus spp.,
Melaleuca spp.).
Araucaria excelsa
(Norfolk Pine)
2 How do tall
tropical trees
grow?
1) INITIALLY MONOPODIAL TO
GAIN GREAT HEIGHT
2) LATER ON, SYMPODIAL – TO
DEVELOP A SOMEWHAT
SPREADING CANOPY/CROWN
1
Why?
What resource may be
limiting in the forest
understorey?
 Light – the limiting resource in the
tropical forest understory

50

1-7% at the forest floor

 But there are gaps in the canopy
• Natural disturbances causes gaps in the canopy
• Canopy gaps is a break in the forest canopy, due
to:
a. branch fall,
b. tree fall,
c. windthrow,
d. landslides, etc.
Branch fall gaps

• Small increase in light

directly below the
branch fall area
Treefall gaps • Tree falls remove not
just the crown of the
fallen tree, but also
adjacent trees
– trees directly in the
path of the tree fall
– Trees connected by
lianas
Wind throw gaps
• Many trees fall or
are snapped in a
single event
• Impact can cover
10s or 100s of
hectares
Landslides
• Occurs naturally in
very steep areas
• Total removal of
vegetation and
exposing of soil
• The size of the gap is dependent on what
caused the gap
• They can vary from a few m2 to 10s or 100s of
hectares
– The size of the gap affects how much light will be
available
Most are small
 Adapt, specialize or be a generalist?
1. Adapt to the low light conditions of the forest
understorey e.g. Belian
2. Specialize to living in large canopy gaps e.g.
Sedaman, Laran
3. Be a generalist e.g. many tropical trees e.g.
Kapur
4. Costs/benefits with each and this is a
spectrum

Shade tolerant Light demanding

Light requirement
Shade – tolerant species (Shade bearers)
• Have slow growth rates & very long lived
• Long-lived well defended leaves
– Compounds to protect their leaves from
herbivores and pathogens
• In the forest understorey – replacing carbon
lost to herbivore is slow, if a seedling loses too
much it will die
• shade tolerant species prevent this
• The wood of shade tolerant species is
generally very dense
• E.g Belian
 Light demanding species (Pioneers)
• Have high rates of photosynthesis and growth
• Generally short-lived plants, with low wood
density
• Don’t defend their leaves with chemical or
structural defenses, the leaves are generally
short lived (disposal).
• Some rely on an ant-guard mutualism for
defense
• Macaranga spp.
 Generalist (Non-pioneer light demanders)

• Intermediate growth rates (highly variable)

• Long lived, medium density wood
• Long lived leaves
• Seedling found under closed canopy, but need
lights gaps to growth further
• Seraya (Meranti) merah, Seraya kuning, Urat
mata, etc.
 The impact of logging
• Well managed selective logging is meant to
mimic natural gap dynamics
• The logging creates gaps that increases the light
availability
• Meant to promote the growth of “desirable”
species (Seraya, Urat mata)
• If the logging is too excessive – end up with a
site dominated by pioneer species (most are low
value commercial)
Reduced impact logging versus
conventional
Reduced impact logging versus
conventional