Tropical Tree Comparisons
|
| Re:
Borneo Rucker |
MICHAEL
DAVIE |
| Sep
25, 2005 19:16 PDT |
Well,
That's just fantastic. Congratulations. (Sabah, Borneo)If
there's any more you can say, feel free, I know many would love to
hear it...
What species are there, and how different from, say,
Sulawesi, Sumatran, or New Guinea forests in composition and
stature? Has
anyone measured much in many of these other places? Any of these
things you
are at liberty to discuss I'd love to hear.
|
| Dipterocarps |
Roman
Dial |
| Sep
26, 2005 22:25 PDT |
Mike,
Sulewesi and New Guinea have fewer Dipterocarps and I have not
heard of
really tall trees growing there, although your question is an
excellent
one.
As for Boreno's Dipterocarps, remember that these tropical
hardwoods
grow tallest in old, primary forests. The tallest Australian
Eucalypts
(the big regnans at 80-90+ m) are not growing in ancient forests
(those
with tree-scale disturbances primarily), so much as mature forests
that
are actually getting shorter as they get older (and forests
intitaed by
disturbances bigger than the stand level). Eucalypts are more like
cottonwoods or Douglas fir -- fast growing, early successional and
light demanding species. These tall Dipterocarp species live in
the
understory until given the opportunity of a light gap and then
grow
tall. They are very shade tolerent, like hemlocks. They also
produce big
heavy seeds that fall near the parent and sprout almost
immediately in
the shade of the parent. They mast with flowering that seems to be
triggered by EL Nino events.
I find the Dipeterocarp forests fascinating, like a fantasy
version of
the eastern hardwood forests I roamed as a kid. The forest floor
has a
surprisingly thick cover of fallen brown and crunchy leaves (like
the
eastern deciduous) and few palms (Costa Rica and the Amazon and
all the
forests in between have lots of palms). It's hot and noisy with
sounds
to my ear more like the deciduous forests of the east than the
tropics
of central and south America.
Roman
|
|