Journal article

Disturbance History of a Seasonal Tropical Forest in Western Thailand: A Spatial Dendroecological Analysis

Romaike S Middendorp, Mart Vlam, Karin T Rebel, Patrick J Baker, Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin, Pieter A Zuidema

BIOTROPICA | WILEY | Published : 2013

Abstract

Disturbances play an important role in forest dynamics across the globe. Researchers have mainly focused on the temporal context of disturbances, but have largely ignored the spatial patterns of tree recruitment they create. Geostatistical tools enable the analysis of spatial patterns and variability in tropical forest disturbance histories. Here, we examine the potential of combining dendroecological analysis and spatial statistics to reconstruct the disturbance history of a seasonal dry evergreen tropical forest plot at the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary (HKK), western Thailand. We used tree-ring-derived age estimates for 70 individuals of the shade-intolerant pioneer species Melia aze..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by European Research Council (ERC)


Funding Acknowledgements

We thank the European Research Council (ERC) for funding this study (grant number 242955). We thank the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) for granting permission to do fieldwork in the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary. We are grateful for the help that Somboon Kiratiprayoon provided in organizing the necessary arrangements for our fieldwork. The rangers and staff at HKK Wildlife Sanctuary offered invaluable logistical support. We kindly thank two reviewers and the Subject Editor for valuable comments on a draft manuscript.