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   Location:Home > Research > Research Progress
Limited edge effects along a burned-unburned effects in Bornea after fire
Author: Ai Chongrui
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Update time: 2011-04-29
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During 1997/98, El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) drought and subsequent fire severely hit Bornea. Dr. Ferry Slik of XTBG studied a Bornean forest edge to determine: (1) how unburned and burned forest differ in vegetation structure, diversity, composition and plant functional traits 7 years after fire, and (2) if these variables showed significant edge effects.

The study site (1° 5′ 52.8″ S, 116° 49′ 8.4″ E) was located in the Sungai Wain Protection Forest near the city of Balikpapan in East Kalimantan Province, Borneo, Indonesia.

The study was carried out in lowland dipterocarp forest between late 2004 and early 2005, almost 7 years after the fires that hit the area in April 1998.

The researchers chose an area with a relatively straight, North-South oriented unburned–burned forest edge to minimize possible edge shape effects on our study.

The research results showed that forest fires in Asian tropical rain forests have a lasting impact on forest structure and tree species composition, with very limited exchange of late successional species from the undisturbed to the neighboring burned forest during the first few years of regeneration. This might be a common pattern in Asian tropical rain forests which are characterized by mast fruiting, meaning that seed input from undisturbed forest into disturbed forest is irregular and can be completely lacking for many years.

The research entitled “ Limited edge effects along a burned-unburned Bornean forest boundary seven years after disturbance” has been published in Biotropica. 43(3):288–2982011 DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2010.00706.x

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Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China
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