Submitted to

Regeneration in
Dr.S.Radha krishnan
tropical wet
Submitted by
F Abdulla
evergreen forest
Introduction
 Tropical evergreen forests (or tropical rain forests)
are usually found in areas receiving more than 200
cm of rainfall and having a monthly mean
temperature of 18°C or higher in the coldest months.
 They occupy about seven percent of the Earth's land
surface and harbour more than half of the planet's
terrestrial plants and animals.
 Tropical evergreen forests are dense, multi-layered,
and harbour many types of plants and animal.
Characters of trees
 The trees are evergreen as there is no period of drought
or frost.
 The canopy tree species are mostly tall hardwoods with
broad leaves that release large quantities of water
through transpiration, in a cycle that is important in
raising as much mineral nutrient material as possible
from the soil.
 They do not shed their leaves at a time and therefore
always remain green and are called evergreen forest.
 Here the trees are 60 m in height (196 ft) and the
rainfall is between 15 cm to 30 cm.
classification
 It is majorly divided into two sub-group as

 Sub-group 1A – Southern Tropical Wet

evergreen forest.
 Sub-group 1B – Northern tropical wet
evergreen forest.
Regeneration
 It is defined as ‘the renewal of a forest crop by
natural or artificial means.’
 It is of two types
 Natural regeneration.
 Artificial regeneration.
 ANR of forest
 The Thai government has recently embarked upon
a nation-wide project to restore degraded forests.
 One approach could be to assisted natural
regeneration (ANR) by counteracting particular
limiting factors, such as insufficient dispersal of
tree seeds into cleared areas, lack of beneficial
shade or excessive competition from weeds.
 This paper describes part of a 2-year project in
northern Thailand which analysed, stage by stage,
the regeneration from seed of a range of tree
species in an abandoned agricultural clearing to
identify limiting factors and develop appropriate
ANR techniques to overcome them.
 Fruit production, seed dispersal, seed germination
and seedling survival were monitored in the field.
 Experiments on selected species were carried out
in the field and nursery to determine the effects of
high light and low moisture on seed germination
and the effect of above-ground weed interference
on seedling performance in the first year.
Regeneration process
 Three species are compared here to demonstrate
how systematic study of regeneration processes
can be of use in devising strategies to accelerate
tree regeneration in deforested areas.
 Despite high levels of production of Beilschmiedia
sp. seeds, the low rate of seed dispersal limited
seedling recruitment in the clearing.
 In addition, seed germination was sharply reduced
by lack of rainfall and the seedlings were highly
susceptible to scorching by direct sunlight.
 Raising seedlings in nurseries and planting them
out in degraded areas under the shade of existing
herbaceous vegetation may be a suitable method of
accelerating the regeneration of this species.
 Prunus cerasoides seeds were produced
abundantly in both years of the study but seedling
recruitment in the clearing was limited mainly by
insufficient dispersal of its seeds into the cleared
area.
 Under experimental conditions seeds germinated
and seedlings established readily, so direct seed
sowing in degraded areas may be appropriate.
 Alternatively, natural seed dispersal could be
encouraged by improving the habitat for birds.
 Engelhardia spicata seeds were widely dispersed
by wind and its regeneration was limited at the
germination and early establishment stages.
 Physical obstruction by thick stem and leaf litter
appeared to be a limiting factor. This barrier could
be overcome by cutting back weeds (particularly
grasses and ferns) or by shading them out with
nurse trees.
Prunus serasoides Beilschmedia sp.
Engalhardia spicata