Part B, Working Papers, February 1974 - Special Collections - US ...

seedlings of Eunatortum were found under S_. spontaneum, but this species was notdominant tn thJs area.Species Composition In the Area that Has Been Ahandoned for 26 YearsThis area was cleared for cultivation of chili about 26 years ago and wasabout 1 ral tn size.The abandoned area itself is In the dry evergreen forestand the dry dlpterocarp forest is about 20 meters away.S. spontaneum was still dominant, although some tree species had nowattained tree and sapling sizes, Four 10 x 10 m guadrants were randomly takento measure trees and saplings. Within each of these guadrats, two 2 x 2 mquadrats were laid down at random to count seedlings. During the observation,evidence of fire was still present throughout the area.Morenda corela, the snecles common In drv dlpterocarp forests, emerged wellIn this plot together with P^. macrocgrpus and Mvtragyna brunosls, which are commonto both forest types (see Table II-S). The majority of saplings occurring in these•plots were the species that have a wide natural distribution, I.e., commonto both types (see Table II-6). In considering the seedlings occurring in thisplot, It can be seen that a high percentage of the species found are of the primaryforest species of a dry evergreen forest.From the above tables It may be stated that the area now supports theveoetatlon In an Imnoverlshed state. The first successful Invaders were speciesthat are distributed widely in both the dry evergreen forests, and the drydloterocaro forest which Is only 20 m away. Although these species usually areresistant to fire, they were almost absent In seedling enumeration. Despiterepeated burning In the area (evidenced by the charcoal left during the time ofobservation), numerous seedlings of primary forest species of dry evergreen forestswere still found (see Table II-7). No seedlings of tree species normally of highfreguency In dry dlpterocaro forests occurred In the area, although 26 years hadpassed since abandonment. Seedling enumeration may Indicate the successlonal11-19