Impact of selective logging and an intensive line planting system on runoff and soil erosion in a tropical Indonesian rainforest

Abstract

Tropical forest management with selective logging and an intensive line planting system are expected to change the hydrological cycle. This study was conducted in a natural tropical rainforest of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Direct runoff and soil erosion were studied at three small catchment plots, a virgin forest catchment, a 1-year-old line plantation (2008 catchment) and a 10-year-old line plantation (1999 catchment). Direct runoff in the virgin forest catchment was 13.5% of precipitation. In the 1999 catchment and 2008 catchment, direct runoff was 31.1% and 19.7% of precipitation, respectively. The direct runoff rate in the 1999 catchment and 2008 catchment was 2.3 and 1.46 of the virgin forest catchment, respectively. Average soil erosion in the virgin forest catchment, the 1999 catchment and the 2008 catchment was 10.01 kg ha -1 , 19.51 kg ha -1 and 25.83 kg ha -1 , respectively. The 2008 catchment had the highest soil erosion rate at 2.58 of the virgin forest catchment. The 1999 catchment had a rate of 1.95 of the virgin forest catchment. The implementation of a forest management system should consider the impact of runoff and soil erosion. Controlling human erosional activities and finding ways to combine ecologically based vegetation structure design and soil erosion control techniques would be an effective way to control runoff and soil erosion.

Runoff and soil erosion characteristics in different periods of an intensive forest management system in a tropical indonesian rainforest

“…The number of rainy days varies from 95 to 112 days, and the mean temperature is 30-33°C at noon and 22-28°C at night [25]. Based on Forest Type Classifi cation map, the study site was classifi ed located in the tropical lowland rainforest with similar forest vegetation characteristics in structure and species distribution.…”

“…The main activities covered by the IFMS are selective logging and intensive line planting. Several studies have investigated the rainfall-runoff-erosion in Kalimantan, Indonesia [18,[22][23][24][25]. Research concerning the IFMS in tropical Indonesian rainforest is still limited [25].…”

“…Several studies have investigated the rainfall-runoff-erosion in Kalimantan, Indonesia [18,[22][23][24][25]. Research concerning the IFMS in tropical Indonesian rainforest is still limited [25]. Therefore, a need exists to investigate the hydrologic response of tropical rainforests managed under an intensive management system.…”

Effects of changes in land use and climate on water availability of a tropical catchment

“…Measurements then focus on the differences in hydrological response between the control and treatment catchment (Fohrer et al, 2005). Suryatmojo et al (2011) used this approach to assess the impacts of different forest harvesting strategies (i.e. selective logging) on the streamflow characteristics in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, and found that applications of different forest harvesting strategies resulted in different hydrological responses (i.e.…”

“…comparison studies between control catchments and catchments under treatment) (e.g. Bosch and Hewlett, 1982;Brown et al, 2005;Suryatmojo et al, 2011;Zhao et al, 2012), a single model framework (e.g. Niehoff et al, 2002;Ashagrie et al, 2006;Menzel et al, 2009;Suarez et al, 2013) and multiple models (ensemble modeling) (e.g.…”