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The 24th IUFRO World Congress: Session 64 What Future for...
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The 24th IUFRO World Congress: Session 64 What Future for Tropical Silviculture?

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 November 2014) | Viewed by 35715

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Plinio Sist

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Guest Editor
Cirad-ES, Director of the Research Unit Forests and Societies Cirad, Campus International de Baillarguet, TA C-105/D, CEDEX 5, 34398 Montpellier, France
Interests: tropical forest ecology; tropical forest management; impact of logging on forest dynamics; reduced impact logging
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Robert Nasi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Director, CGIAR Research Program Forests, Trees and Agroforestry, Center for International Forestry Research, Bogor, Indonesia
Interests: sustainable use; tropical forest; multiple-use management; silviculture
Dr. Jean-Paul Laclau

E-Mail
Guest Editor
CIRAD, UMR Eco&Sols, Montpellier, France
Interests: tropical plantation; forest soil; nutrition; biogeochemistry; ecology; deep roots; silviculture; sustainability; Eucalyptus; mixed-species forest

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Uncontrolled harvesting, including over harvesting and poor practices, has now been recognized as an important cause of forest degradation and deforestation in the tropics. Sustainable forest management is a major tool to conserve continuous and large areas of natural forests. Sustainability is indeed central to conservation efforts in multi-functional landscapes where natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, and maintenance of ecosystem goods and services are shared priorities. In tropical forests from which scattered trees of marketable species are harvested selectively for their timber, attainment of the goal of sustainable management should include maintenance of the full range of ecosystem goods and services and biodiversity, as well as sustaining timber yields. Although most of tropical natural forests harvested for timber will likely not totally recover within the relatively short rotation cycle authorized in most of tropical countries forest policy, they will certainly play a major role in providing goods and services. Tropical silviculture therefore, needs to adapt to meet multiple management objectives, such as logging and Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) within the same forestry production unit. The silviculture of tomorrow will also have to deal with compromises between production of goods (timber, NTFP), conservation of services (biodiversity, carbon) and different stakeholders with different perceptions and objectives. Moreover, tree response to climate changes that could increase air temperature and drought periods in many tropical regions is still poorly known.

Deforestation and bad logging practices have depleted natural timber resources over the last decades and plantation forests now appear to be an important tool for land restoration, resource conservation, and wood production. Fast-growing plantations have been expanding rapidly in tropical regions and supply a growing share of the world demand in woody products. In addition, multi-purpose plantations designed to meet social, economic, and environmental objectives, are likely to provide key ecosystem services. A wide variety of management practices can be used in plantation forests designed both to supply important ecosystem services and to conserve the world’s remaining primary forests.

This special issue will consider papers presenting experimental data on the sustainability of selective logging practices in different parts of the tropics, as well as the role of plantations with native or exotic tree species for both wood production and forest land restoration. We are particularly interested in papers that examine the impacts of tropical silviculture on biodiversity, biomass production and ecological processes in ecosystems of natural and plantation forests. Experimental and modeling studies that contribute to improving our current knowledge of tree responses to climate change will also be welcome. Papers presenting answers to the question “What is the future for tropical silviculture?” at a regional or pan tropical level, are also welcome and encouraged.

Dr. Plinio Sist
Dr. Robert Nasi
Dr. Jean-Paul Laclau
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.



Keywords

  • tropical silviculture
  • tropical forest management
  • tropical forest conservation

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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442 KiB  
Article
Differential Performance between Two Timber Species in Forest Logging Gaps and in Plantations in Central Africa
by Adeline Fayolle, Dakis-Yaoba Ouédraogo, Gauthier Ligot, Kasso Daïnou, Nils Bourland, Patrice Tekam and Jean-Louis Doucet
Forests 2015, 6(2), 380-394; https://doi.org/10.3390/f6020380 - 02 Feb 2015
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 5854
Abstract
To develop silvicultural guidelines for high-value timber species of Central African moist forests, we assessed the performance of the pioneer Milicia excelsa (iroko, Moraceae), and of the non-pioneer light demander Pericopsis elata (assamela, Fabaceae) in logging gaps and in plantations in highly degraded [...] Read more.
To develop silvicultural guidelines for high-value timber species of Central African moist forests, we assessed the performance of the pioneer Milicia excelsa (iroko, Moraceae), and of the non-pioneer light demander Pericopsis elata (assamela, Fabaceae) in logging gaps and in plantations in highly degraded areas in south-eastern Cameroon. The survival and size of each seedling was regularly monitored in the silvicultural experiments. Differences in performance and allometry were tested between species in logging gaps and in plantations. The two species performance in logging gaps was significantly different from plantations and concurred with the expectations of the performance trade-off hypothesis but not with the expectations of species light requirements. The pioneer M. excelsa survived significantly better in logging gaps while the non-pioneer P. elata grew significantly faster in plantations. The high mortality and slow growth of M. excelsa in plantations is surprising for a pioneer species but could be explained by herbivory (attacks from a gall-making psyllid). Identifying high-value native timber species (i) with good performance in plantations such as P. elata is of importance to restore degraded areas; and (ii) with good performance in logging gaps such as M. excelsa is of importance to maintain timber resources and biodiversity in production forests. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The 24th IUFRO World Congress: Session 64 What Future for Tropical Silviculture?)
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818 KiB  
Article
How Tightly Linked Are Pericopsis elata (Fabaceae) Patches to Anthropogenic Disturbances in Southeastern Cameroon?
by Nils Bourland, François Cerisier, Kasso Daïnou, Alexandre Livingstone Smith, Wannes Hubau, Hans Beeckman, Yves Brostaux, Adeline Fayolle, Achille Bernard Biwolé, Fousséni Fétéké, Jean-François Gillet, Julie Morin-Rivat, Philippe Lejeune, Eric Ntoudé Tiba, Joris Van Acker and Jean-Louis Doucet
Forests 2015, 6(2), 293-310; https://doi.org/10.3390/f6020293 - 29 Jan 2015
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 7574
Abstract
While most past studies have emphasized the relationships between specific forest stands and edaphic factors, recent observations in Central African moist forests suggested that an increase of slash-and-burn agriculture since 3000–2000 BP (Before Present) could be the main driver of the persistence of [...] Read more.
While most past studies have emphasized the relationships between specific forest stands and edaphic factors, recent observations in Central African moist forests suggested that an increase of slash-and-burn agriculture since 3000–2000 BP (Before Present) could be the main driver of the persistence of light-demanding tree species. In order to examine anthropogenic factors in the persistence of such populations, our study focused on Pericopsis elata, an endangered clustered timber species. We used a multidisciplinary approach comprised of botanical, anthracological and archaeobotanical investigations to compare P. elata patches with surrounding stands of mixed forest vegetation (“out-zones”). Charcoal samples were found in both zones, but were significantly more abundant in the soils of patches. Eleven groups of taxa were identified from the charcoals, most of them also present in the current vegetation. Potsherds were detected only inside P. elata patches and at different soil depths, suggesting a long human presence from at least 2150 to 195 BP, as revealed by our charcoal radiocarbon dating. We conclude that current P. elata patches most likely result from shifting cultivation that occurred ca. two centuries ago. The implications of our findings for the dynamics and management of light-demanding tree species are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The 24th IUFRO World Congress: Session 64 What Future for Tropical Silviculture?)
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3416 KiB  
Article
Dendrochronological Potential in a Semi-Deciduous Rainforest: The Case of Pericopsis elata in Central Africa
by Maaike De Ridder, Benjamin Toirambe, Jan Van Den Bulcke, Nils Bourland, Joris Van Acker and Hans Beeckman
Forests 2014, 5(12), 3087-3106; https://doi.org/10.3390/f5123087 - 12 Dec 2014
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 6519
Abstract
The long-lived pioneer species Pericopsis elata is one of the rare tropical timbers on the list of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species, supporting the need for accurate and reliable growth data. In one planted and one natural forest in the [...] Read more.
The long-lived pioneer species Pericopsis elata is one of the rare tropical timbers on the list of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species, supporting the need for accurate and reliable growth data. In one planted and one natural forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, respectively four and 37 Pericopsis stem disks were collected. The tree-ring series of planted trees were used to confirm annual tree-ring formation. For the natural forest, a tree-ring chronology with 24 stem disks ranged from 1852 up to 2008. This chronology was compared with time-series of local precipitation, resulting in a significant correlation with the second half of the rainy season (September–November). This seasonal precipitation was related with sea surface temperatures of the West Indian Ocean. Higher precipitation during El Niño years corresponded with higher tree-ring indices but differences were not significant. In addition, pointer years were rare and did not have a consistent link with extreme climatic conditions. The existence of annual tree rings encourages further tree-ring analyses of P. elata and other flagship timber species in order to further document climate-growth responses and to provide the long-term framework that is needed for sustainable management planning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The 24th IUFRO World Congress: Session 64 What Future for Tropical Silviculture?)
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954 KiB  
Article
Enrichment of Logging Gaps with a High Conservation Value Species (Pericopsis elata) in a Central African Moist Forest
by Dakis-Yaoba Ouédraogo, Adeline Fayolle, Kasso Daïnou, Charles Demaret, Nils Bourland, Paul Lagoute and Jean-Louis Doucet
Forests 2014, 5(12), 3031-3047; https://doi.org/10.3390/f5123031 - 05 Dec 2014
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 5985
Abstract
In central Africa, most of the timber species require high light at the seedling stage for survival and growth. Forest managers face a regeneration shortage of these light-demanding timber species. To achieve long-term sustainability, there is a need for enrichment methods combining low [...] Read more.
In central Africa, most of the timber species require high light at the seedling stage for survival and growth. Forest managers face a regeneration shortage of these light-demanding timber species. To achieve long-term sustainability, there is a need for enrichment methods combining low cost and high species performance. The aim of this study was to assess the performance of Pericopsis elata seedlings in enriched logging gaps in Cameroon. Over five years; the survival and size of each seedling was monitored in 27 logging gaps that were either left without maintenance or cleared. Gaps were relatively small with an average total area of 155 m2. We found that planted seedlings of P. elata performed well in logging gaps. Even without any maintenance 61% of the planted seedlings survived after five years with an average annual diameter increment of 0.28 cm. P. elata appeared to be a good candidate species for enrichment in logging gaps. We demonstrated that the seedlings of P. elata tolerated a wide range of soil conditions but that their performance was strongly influenced by light availability (gap clearance), suggesting potentially improved performance of P. elata in high light environments such as in plantation or larger gaps. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The 24th IUFRO World Congress: Session 64 What Future for Tropical Silviculture?)
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Review

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215 KiB  
Review
Minimizing Risks of Invasive Alien Plant Species in Tropical Production Forest Management
by Michael Padmanaba and Richard T. Corlett
Forests 2014, 5(8), 1982-1998; https://doi.org/10.3390/f5081982 - 15 Aug 2014
Cited by 34 | Viewed by 9000
Abstract
Timber production is the most pervasive human impact on tropical forests, but studies of logging impacts have largely focused on timber species and vertebrates. This review focuses on the risk from invasive alien plant species, which has been frequently neglected in production forest [...] Read more.
Timber production is the most pervasive human impact on tropical forests, but studies of logging impacts have largely focused on timber species and vertebrates. This review focuses on the risk from invasive alien plant species, which has been frequently neglected in production forest management in the tropics. Our literature search resulted in 114 publications with relevant information, including books, book chapters, reports and papers. Examples of both invasions by aliens into tropical production forests and plantation forests as sources of invasions are presented. We discuss species traits and processes affecting spread and invasion, and silvicultural practices that favor invasions. We also highlight potential impacts of invasive plant species and discuss options for managing them in production forests. We suggest that future forestry practices need to reduce the risks of plant invasions by conducting surveillance for invasive species; minimizing canopy opening during harvesting; encouraging rapid canopy closure in plantations; minimizing the width of access roads; and ensuring that vehicles and other equipment are not transporting seeds of invasive species. Potential invasive species should not be planted within dispersal range of production forests. In invasive species management, forewarned is forearmed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The 24th IUFRO World Congress: Session 64 What Future for Tropical Silviculture?)
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