The Sabah Biodiversity Experiment
Background
The rainforests of SE Asia support much of the region's biodiversity, play a crucial role in the provision of key ecosystem services and are an important source of income at both national and local levels. Forest conversion, degradation through unsustainable logging practices and slash-and-burn cultivation are simultaneously having a serious impact on both biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
There is considerable interest in the restoration of the degraded forests of SE Asia by enrichment planting of indigenous tree species. However, tree diversity in areas subject to enrichment planting can be much lower than in neighbouring areas of primary forest. What are the ecological consequences of this reduction in biodiversity?
Aims
In order to understand the possible impacts of the loss of tree biodiversity in tropical forest ecosystems it is of critical importance that long-term monitoring and experimental programmes are established.
The NERC Centre for Population Biology, University of Zurich, the Royal Society South East Asia Rainforest Research Programme and the Malaysian forestry company Innoprise Corporation, are establishing a large-scale forest biodiversity experiment in the rainforest of Sabah, Malaysia.
The experiment will provide a platform for testing various questions relating to the effects of tree diversity and ecosystem processes, including:
- Indicators of successful forest re-establishment e.g. survival & growth in monospecific vs diverse stands
- Bio-geo-chemical ecosystem processes, e.g. primary production, nutrient retention, decomposition rates
- Ecological processes, e.g. levels of diversity in associated (non-tree) taxa, patterns of herbivory and disease
Design
The experiment covers 500 ha and comprises 124, 4 ha plots arranged in near-identical blocks north and south of a logging road. Treatments were allocated to plots in a stratified random design.
Sixteen species of tree were available to establish the experiment and these have been planted alone (2 compositional replicates of each), all 16 species together (32 compositional replicates) and as 16 four-species mixtures (2 compositional replicates of each). Twelve plots will be left as unplanted controls.
For further information please contact Prof. Andy Hector (ahector@uwinst.uzh.ch) or Dr Glen Reynolds (glen@searrp.org).
Latest News