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E-3.1 Effects on soil formation and soil structure of disturbance in tropical forest

[Contact Person]

Takamura Kenzi
Senior Researcher, Wildlife Conservation Research Team
National Institute for Environmental Studies
Environment Agency
Onogawa 16-2, Tukuba, Ibaraki 305-0053, Japan
Tel:+81-298-50-2470 Fax:+81-298-50-2569
E-mail:takaken@nies.go.jp

Total Budget for FY1996-FY1998

35,547,000 Yen (FY1998; I 1,767,000 Yen)

Abstract

Abundance of termites and wood decay fungi as decomposers were censused in natural and regenerate forests of the Pasoh Forest Reserve, a lowland rain forest of peninsular Malaysia to reveal mechanisms maintaining the decomposer community and assess effects of logging on soil formation. Seedlings of Shorea macroptera were planted in enclosures where termites were excluded in order to assess the role of decomposition by termites in tree growth.
(1)Fungal species occurring on woody substrata were affected by the substratum conditions as diameter, tree species and decomposition process. More species were found in natural forest compared with regenerate forest which suggests that logging may reduce the diversity of wood decay fungi.
(2)In both forests, a fungus-growing termite Macrotermes malaccensis was the most dominant among the wood-foraging termites whose diversity was higher in natural forest. A processional termite of the genus Hospitalitermes preferred large-sized trees as a foraging site and nested more densely in natural forest where large trees were more numerous.
(3)Termite-removal experiment did not succeed, but suggested that experimental removal should be undertaken not with seedlings, but with naturally-grown trees for functionally-dominant termites.

[Key Words]

Logging, Wood litter, Termite, Wood decay fungus, Tree fall gap