Plant Community Structure, Fire Disturbance, and Recovery in ...

Contributions to the Study of Biological Diversity Vol. 3
(FCC) scene was composed in ArcView 3.3
(ESRI 2002), using band 2 (green, 0.53 - 0.61
:m), band 3 (red, 0.63-0.69 :m), and band 4
(near-infrared, 0.78-0.90 :m) (Figure 1.9, in
grayscale).
Japanese Earth Resources Satellite (JERS-
1) Synthetic Aperture Radar images from
October 1995 were obtained from the Global
Rain Forest Mapping Project (2001). The image
was registered in ArcView by creation of a
‘world file’ (ESRI 2002) with coordinates of the
point of origin and the fraction of a degree
represented by one pixel on each axis. Features
visible in the JERS image (Figure 1.10) served
as an additional guide for delineation of preburn
plant community boundaries.
Figure 1.10. JERS-1 radar image of the entire Waini
Peninsula, acquired in October 1995, resolution 3 arcseconds,
about 95 meters at the latitude of this image.
On the coastal plain, dark areas primarily represent
open water and smooth moist surfaces, while areas
of high return represent distinct settlements or areas
of flooded, intact forest, which is the likely
interpretation along the coast near the right side of
the image. Hills are visible along the center of the
left edge, near the Northwest District=s administrative
seat, Mabaruma.
Ground-truth transects were made across
the Waini Peninsula in and near the Almond
Beach burn in April and October 2001. Two
transects were made through central parts of the
burn, and two others were made near each end
of the burn (Figure 1.11). Transects were spaced
approximately 2.5 to 3.5 km apart. Transect A
crossed the Peninsula near its northwestern end,
in unburned forest. Transect B was made from
the vicinity of Almond Beach camp across
19
burned swampland. Transect C started just east
of the Almond Beach school, crossing burned
swampland and intact forest near the Waini
River. Transect D was intended to pass beyond
the southeastern end the Almond Beach burn,
however was adapted in the field to coincide
with a boundary of the burn. Transect E was a
shorter exploration made beyond the
southeastern limit of the Almond Beach burn.
Along the transects at localities with
distinctive vegetation types, vegetation
transitions, burn boundaries, or plant collection
localities, coordinates were recorded using a
GPS receiver, plant species at those locations
were noted. Voucher specimens were collected
wherever a species was previously uncollected
or field identification was uncertain. Transects
B and C were each traversed twice, due to the
time required to initially clear or mark routes.
A post-burn profile was composed to
provide a visual representation of plant
communities across the Almond Beach burn at
transect C. The first tropical forest survey
utilizing profiles was apparently performed in
Guyana (at that time British Guiana) by Davis
and Richards (1933), detailing a mixed lowland
forest on Moraballi Creek near the Essequibo
River; for that study all trees along a narrow
transect were cut and measured as the profile
was drawn. While Ellison (2002) argued that
mangrove community profiles are subjective
representations of structure and zonation unless
they are linked to quantitative data, generalized
Figure 1.11. Positions of transects across the Almond
Beach burn (B, C, D) and outside of the burn (A, E)
on the Waini Peninsula. Points indicate locations of
GPS readings where plant community information
was gathered.