Relocating plants from swidden fallows to gardens in Southwestern China

As upland farmers in Southeast Asia change from shifting cultivation to permanent agriculture and lose access to swidden-fallow forests and their resources, they are introducing economically important forest and fallow plants into their house gardens. We describe this process in Daka, a village of Hani ethnicity in Yunnan Province, China. Daka smallholders collect both seeds and seedlings from fallow forests and transfer the plants to house gardens, initiating the transformation of wild species to a cultivated or semi-domesticated one. Two kinds of species are commonly transferred from swidden fallows to house gardens. Some are particularly rare, others are plants in great demand. Between 1998 and 2000 Daka households earned an average of US$68.20 annually from the products of fallow forests. We also found that villagers harvest and use 76 plant species from fallow forests and 126 species from house gardens. Twenty-two species found in house gardens that had been transferred from fallow forests. Households vary widely in the frequency with which they engage in this pattern. We believe that local knowledge of these practices is a potentially important resource in the development of other areas of smallholder farming.     

西双版纳主干公路沿线森林景观格局动态

根据西双版纳地区1976、1988和2003年3期Landsat MSS／TM／ETM影像的解译结果，借助于地理信息系统技术，运用景观生态学的基本理论分析了该区主干公路沿线的森林景观格局动态。主要结果为：3个时期，与整个西双版纳州相比，公路沿线10km范围内的人工林景观百分比更大，增长更快，天然林景观则表现出相反的特征和趋势；且距公路越近，天然林的景观百分比越小，人工林的景观百分比越大，表现出明显的公路效应。公路沿线景观格局朝着多样化、均匀化、破碎化的方向发展。样区内的质心偏移分析表明，1976年至2003年，橡胶林、热带季节雨林、灌木林、山地雨林和非林地景观的分布都在向远离公路的方向偏移。