Impact of Fire on Natural Regeneration in Peat

Bambang Hero Saharjo,Ati Dwi Nurhayati

doi:10.29244/jitl.9.1.27-36

Abstract

Fire is one of the most effective tools in disappearing vegetation community, where it was depend on the characteristics of burning itself and also the performance of the site being burnt. Previous research in mineral soils showed that repeated burning occurred at the same place trend to clean the vegetation which finally leads to have the land with lower number and quality of species left, while in peat land it was not fully understood. The research objective is to understand the vegetation dynamics following peat fires in the fibric peat type at the land preparation area using fire belong to the local community located in the Pelalawan district, Riau province, Indonesia during the dry season in the year 2001. Before slashing and drying, /0 tree species and 4 species of under storey vegetationfound. The site was dominated by Uncaria glabrata at seedling stage, Garcinia rostrata at sapling stage, Shorea macrophylla at pole stage and Pandanus immersus at understorey. After slashing and followed by 4 weeks drying then continued by burning with high flame temperature range from 8750(; to 900°C, it had been found that 3-months follOWing burning the site was dominated by Garcinia-rostrata at seedling stage and Cyperus halpan at understorey, while 6-months following burning the site was dominated by Eugenia jambos at seedling stage and Cyperus hal pan at understorey. Three months following burning species left to be only 4 species with 115 individuaVha (3 species from original and 1 new species emerge), and at 6 months following burning still 4 species left with 250 individuaVha.Meanwhile in understorey vegetation, 3 months following burning the species increased to be 7 species with 746 individuaVha (3 species left unchanged, I species disappeared and 4 new species emerge) and 6 months following burning the species left still 7 species with 1235 individuaVha. This means thatfire stimulate the increasing number of under storey vegetation.

Highlights

In the most comprehensive study of the fires impact on the forest (Schindler, 1989), the researchers found that only 11 % of the total forest area affected by fire was undisturbed primary forest, and that when this type of forest burns, only undergrowth is consumed, allowing full recovery ofplant life within a few years.Woods (1987) reported that the species composition of post-fire regeneration is related to the degree of canopy damage and resulting light level at the forest floor
In plot 2 to 53 % in plot 1 and wind speed vary from 0.67 mlminute in plot 2 to 1.05 mlminute in plot 1 (Table I)
Before burning fuel load found in the site in the range between 61.56 to 62.67 tonlha; fuel moisture vary from 8.63 to 9.19 % for dry leaves, 12.85-15.6 % for dry branching and 84.75 to 85.6 % for peat surface; while fuel bed depth was vary from 42.3 to 54.7 cm (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

In the most comprehensive study of the fires impact on the forest (Schindler, 1989), the researchers found that only 11 % of the total forest area affected by fire was undisturbed primary forest, and that when this type of forest burns, only undergrowth is consumed, allowing full recovery ofplant life within a few years.Woods (1987) reported that the species composition of post-fire regeneration is related to the degree of canopy damage and resulting light level at the forest floor. High ground-level sunlight encourages pioneer species to sprout, disrupting the growth of tree seedlings normally associated with primary and secondary forests. Their effect is exacerbated in areas where hot fires destroy seedlings and viable seeds in the forest floor litter. Ten years after the fires, lITO-funded researchers studied regeneration in burned areas and reported that a variety of plant communities had grown, ranging from comparatively well-structured forest with wide species diversity to almost pure stands of pioneer species (Hess, 1994). One group found that after 30-years of natural regeneration in an abandoned pepper plantation, the resulting secondary forest was physiognomically indistinguishable from the primary lowland dipterocarp forest but different in floristics composition and structure (Kartawinata et al, 1981)

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Conclusion