Structural characteristics of a regrowth forest stand

• Main Author: Dayang Nur Ainnayana, binti Abang Bohari
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2015
• Subjects: SD Forestry
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10530/10/Dyg%20Nur%20Ainnayana.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/10530/

Trees symbolize the phase of plant life cycle and their existence can be reflecting the upcoming forest regeneration. This study was conducted to determine the status of regrowth forest stand, composition and diversity of trees in Matang Wildlife Centre at Kubah National Park. The study plots were set out to one hectare and all trees that have 5 cm and above in diameter breast height were measured. Species composition, diversity indices and spatial distribution were computed. A total of 1350 trees at 5 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) and above were recorded in the 1-ha plot. In terms of number of stems, the commonest family is Dipterocarpaceae which comprised of 27% of the total trees recorded followed by Myrtaceae (12.4%), Myristicaeae (4.9%), Burseraceae (4.7%) and Lauraceae (4.2%). The most dominant species in terms of importance value (IV) was Syzygium havilandii with the highest IV at 5.8, followed by Hopea dryobalanoides (3.2), Shorea macroptera (2.5), Santiria tomentosa (2.3) and Shorea parvifolia (1.9). Diversity indices indicated high tree species diversity. Spatial distribution of species is random as indicated by Morisita’s Index. Jaccard’s coefficient of similarity analyses indicated low species similarity among diameter class. Floristic composition of the regrowth forest shows close resemblance to ‘original primary’ forest.