EVALUATING THE FUNCTIONAL TRAITS OF THE PIONEERING SPECIES: INSIGHTS TO FOREST RESTORATION

Abstract

The influence of plant traits on interspecific demographic rates to growth and mortality has recently received an increasing attention because it allows understanding of the underlying determinants of species success especially in open degraded areas. This study examined the trait-based approach in selecting potential species for forest restoration. Five (5) native/indigenous pioneer species were evaluated for functional traits such as plant height, branching architecture, leaf dry matter content, specific leaf area, stem density, and bark thickness. All samples were collected from healthy and well grown mature trees growing in secondary forest of Central Mindanao University. The range of values for the various functional traits as observed by Ostertag and Perez-Harguindeguy were used to evaluate. Based on the result, three species such as Phyllantus albus, Polyscias nodosa, and Buchanania arborescence showed to fit in those values hence we recommend that these species should be considered as primary restoration species in various denuded areas of the Philippines. Our result suggests that multiple functional traits (i.e. Leaf anatomical traits, leaf morphological traits and leaf stomatal traits) are still required to be measured to select appropriate plant species for restoration.