Viewing tropical forest succession as a three-dimensional dynamical system

Chanthorn, Wirong; Ratanapongsai, Yingluck; Brockelman, Warren Y.; Allen, Michael A.; Favier, Charly; Dubois, Marc

doi:10.1007/s12080-015-0278-4

Cited by 19 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The area receives approximately 2200 mm of precipitation annually, with a dry season of 5 to 6 months (precipitation below 100 mm month −1 ) from November to April (Brockelman et al, 2011;Chanthorn et al, 2016). The annual mean temperature is about 22-23 • C (Jenks et al, 2011), and the altitude of the study area varies from 650 to 870 m. Before establishment of the park, some areas were used for lowintensity agriculture activities that likely started at the end of the 19th century (Brockelman et al, 2011) and then naturally reforested at different times depending on when burning ceased (Chanthorn et al, 2016). As a consequence, the landscape constitutes a mosaic of secondary forests of different ages amidst old-growth forests (Chanthorn et al, 2016).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The census method follows the protocol of the Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) network to which the plot belongs since 2009 (Brockelman et al, 2011). The second set of plots included eight separate 0.48 ha plots (60 m × 80 m) that were established from March to May 2013 and re-censused from November 2017 to January 2018 (Chanthorn et al, 2017). These plots are set along a successional gradient varying from near stand initiation to old-growth forest.…”

Section: Field Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In all plots, trees ≥ 1 cm in diameter at breast height (dbh) were tagged, identified to species, mapped and measured for their diameter, except in the 0.48 ha plots where the minimum dbh was 4 cm. A total of 184 239 individual trees were measured across all the plots, from which 517 trees were measured for height using a pole for short trees (< 5 m), a laser range finder (Nikon Forestry 550) for medium height trees (5-7 m) and a Vertex III hypsometer for tall (> 7 m) trees (Chanthorn et al, 2017). In this paper, we used the 2017 census data, concomitant with the ALS campaign, to estimate AGB and multiple censuses to estimate the AGB dynamics of secondary plots.…”

Section: Field Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This resulted in 70 plots of either 50 m × 100 m (n = 62) or 60 m × 80 m (n = 8) that we classified in three successional stages from young-to oldgrowth forests following the classification from Chanthorn et al (2017): stand initiation (early) stage (SIS; n = 3); stem exclusion (intermediate) stage (SES; n = 5); and old-growth stage (OGS; n = 62). Based on interviews of senior park rangers and using Landsat remote sensing data, Chanthorn et al (2017) estimated that the ages were approximately 15-20 years for SIS forests, 35-40 years for SES forests and unknown but probably older than 200 years for OGS forests. This classification into successional stages followed the framework of Oliver and Larson (1996) who studied successional gradients in temperate forests.…”

Section: Field Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because the H -D relationship varies along the successional gradient (Chanthorn et al, 2017), we fitted three independent H -D models for the three different successional growth forest stages using 177 measured trees for SIS plots, 159 for SES plots and 181 for OGS plots. AGB at the plot level was then estimated in Mg ha −1 by summing individual tree AGB for all trees with dbh ≥ 5 cm belonging to the plot.…”

Section: Field Aboveground Biomass Calculationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Forest aboveground biomass stock and resilience in a tropical landscape of Thailand

et al. 2020

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Half of Asian tropical forests were disturbed in the last century resulting in the dominance of secondary forests in Southeast Asia. However, the rate at which biomass accumulates during the recovery process in these forests is poorly understood. We studied a forest landscape located in Khao Yai National Park (Thailand) that experienced strong disturbances in the last century due to clearance by swidden farmers. Combining recent field and airborne laser scanning (ALS) data, we first built a high-resolution aboveground biomass (AGB) map of over 60 km 2 of forest landscape. We then used the random forest algorithm and Landsat time series (LTS) data to classify landscape patches as non-forested versus forested on an almost annual basis from 1972 to 2017. The resulting chronosequence was then used in combination with the AGB map to estimate forest carbon recovery rates in secondary forest patches during the first 42 years of succession. The ALS-AGB model predicted AGB with an error of 14 % at 0.5 ha resolution (RMSE = 45 Mg ha −1 ) using the mean top-of-canopy height as a single predictor. The mean AGB over the landscape was 291 Mg ha −1 , showing a high level of carbon storage despite past disturbance history. We found that AGB recovery varies non-linearly in the first 42 years of the succession, with an increasing rate of accumulation through time. We predicted a mean AGB recovery rate of 6.9 Mg ha −1 yr −1 , with a mean AGB gain of 143 and 273 Mg ha −1 after 20 and 40 years, respectively. This rate estimate is about 50 % larger than the rate prescribed for young secondary Asian tropical rainforests in the 2019 refinement of the 2006 IPCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories. Our study hence suggests that the new IPCC rates, which were based on limited data from Asian tropical rainforests, strongly underestimate the carbon potential of forest regrowth in tropical Asia. Our recovery estimates are also within the range of those reported for the well-studied Latin American secondary forests under similar climatic conditions. This study illustrates the potential of ALS data not only for scaling up field AGB measurements but also for predicting AGB recovery dynamics when combined with long-term satellite data. It also illustrates that tropical forest landscapes that were disturbed in the past are of utmost importance for the regional carbon budget and thus for implementing international programs such as REDD+.Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Field Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Field Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Field Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Field Aboveground Biomass Calculationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Forest aboveground biomass stock and resilience in a tropical landscape of Thailand

et al. 2020

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Different responses of soil respiration to environmental factors across forest stages in a Southeast Asian forest

Rodtassana

Unawong

Yaemphum

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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Soil respiration (SR) in forests contributes significant carbon dioxide emissions from terrestrial ecosystems and is highly sensitive to environmental changes, including soil temperature, soil moisture, microbial community, surface litter, and vegetation type. Indeed, a small change in SR may have large impacts on the global carbon balance, further influencing feedbacks to climate change. Thus, detailed characterization of SR responses to changes in environmental conditions is needed to accurately estimate carbon dioxide emissions from forest ecosystems. However, data for such analyses are still limited, especially in tropical forests of Southeast Asia where various stages of forest succession exist due to previous land-use changes. In this study, we measured SR and some environmental factors including soil temperature (ST), soil moisture (SM), and organic matter content (OM) in three successional tropical forests in both wet and dry periods. We also analyzed the relationships between SR and these environmental variables. Results showed that SR was higher in the wet period and in older forests. Although no response of SR to ST was found in younger forest stages, SR of the old-growth forest significantly responded to ST, plausibly due to the nonuniform forest structure, including gaps, that resulted in a wide range of ST.

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Species assemblages and their drivers differ between trees and lianas in a seasonal evergreen forest in Thailand

Chanthorn,

Wiegand,

Nathalang

et al. 2024

Ecosphere

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Despite a long tradition in ecology of studying tree species assembly and its potential drivers in tropical forest communities, little information exists with respect to lianas (woody climbers), the second most abundant life form of woody plants in tropical forests. Lianas influence forest diversity and stability and provide critical resources for forest fauna. Using a unique dataset of a 30‐ha plot in Thailand, where tree and liana individuals were fully mapped, we investigated the degree to which local species assemblages of trees and lianas of different size classes (i.e., seedlings, established individuals, and large individuals) are related to local environmental conditions. We asked (1) What are the spatial patterns and environmental drivers of local tree and liana species assemblages? (2) How do such patterns and drivers differ among size classes? (3) Which species associate with these assemblages? Local assemblages of established trees showed substantial structuring by environmental variables, whereas we found only weakly structured assemblages of tree seedlings, large trees, and lianas of all size classes. Our results indicated that the biotic and abiotic drivers of local species assemblages differed strongly between tree and liana communities and across size classes. Species assemblages of trees were mainly driven by soil nutrients, leading to patchy assemblages associated with high base saturation (Alfisols) and assemblages associated with lower levels of base saturation and higher aluminum (Ultisols), whereas tree seedling assemblages were only weakly structured by riparian zones. In contrast, species assemblages of established and large lianas were primarily associated with forest canopy structure, separating low‐canopy forests from high‐canopy forests, whereas soil nutrients were the only factors associated with liana seedling assemblages. The weak environmental structuring of tree seedlings and large trees suggests that other mechanisms, such as stochastic disturbances, competition for space, or animal seed dispersal, may play an important role in structuring tree communities in this seasonal tropical forest. The weak patterns observed in liana communities across all life stages raise questions about the underlying mechanisms of liana community assembly, and further research should focus on liana niches, their dispersal mechanisms, and host tree relations.

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Viewing tropical forest succession as a three-dimensional dynamical system

Cited by 19 publications

References 27 publications

Forest aboveground biomass stock and resilience in a tropical landscape of Thailand

Forest aboveground biomass stock and resilience in a tropical landscape of Thailand

Different responses of soil respiration to environmental factors across forest stages in a Southeast Asian forest

Species assemblages and their drivers differ between trees and lianas in a seasonal evergreen forest in Thailand

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