Thirty‐eight years of change in a tropical forest: plot data from Mpanga Forest Reserve,Uganda |
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Authors: | D. Taylor A. C. Hamilton S. L. Lewis G. Nantale |
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Affiliation: | 1. School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College, University of Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland;2. Plantlife International, 14 Rollestone Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 1DX, U.K.;3. Department of Geography, Earth and Biosphere Institute, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, U.K.;4. Department of Botany, Makerere University, PO Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda |
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Abstract: | Variations in the composition and structure of mid‐altitude, semi‐deciduous topical forest in a 0.64‐ha plot in Mpanga Forest Reserve, Uganda, are described for a 38‐year period to 2006. Repeat surveys of trees in the plot with a girth ≥30 cm at reference height in 1982, 1993 and 2006, following a baseline survey in 1968, indicate only relatively minor fluctuations in density, Shannon diversity, evenness, basal area (BA) and estimated above ground biomass. The largest trees [diameter at breast height (dbh) > 40 cm] and main canopy taxa (e.g. Celtis mildbraedii) accounted for the largest fraction of BA. Mortality was the highest amongst taxa classed as early seral, understorey and/or in the smallest size category (dbh = 9.5–20 cm), while new recruits were predominantly understorey taxa. Only one tree was recorded as felled for human use between the surveys of 1968 and 1993. In contrast, a considerable increase in anthropogenic disturbance was evident at the time of the 2006 survey, and illegal logging now poses a substantial threat to future resource availability and carbon storage in what was for a time one of the most protected areas of forest in Uganda. |
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Keywords: | Africa anthropogenic monitoring permanent plot rain forest selective logging |
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