Abstract
Published results on the growth interactions of non-nitrogen fixing mixed plantations species, and their impact on the regeneration of woody plants are scant. This paper addresses the growth interactions of pure and mixed plantations of Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Cupressus lusitanica and their impact on the regeneration of woody plants in relation with light. Data on the regenerated woody plants, individual characteristics of the plantation species and light reaching under the canopies were collected using sample plots (n = 4) with a size of 20 m × 20 m for each plantation type. The result showed that, E. camaldulensis was suppressing the growth of C. lusitanica while its growth was favored when it was mixed with C. lusitanica (p p > 0.05). Density of plantation trees were found not having a significant relationship with diversity of species (p = 0.801). There was a significant but not direct relationship between light reached in the understory of the canopies and diversity of species in the plantations (p = 0.027). Overall, the result indicated that both the pure and the mixed plantations were favoring the recruitment of woody plants.
Highlights
The vast majorities of the world’s plantations are monocultures, with just a small number of tree genera (Eucalyptus, Pinus, and Tectona) widely used (FAO, 2001; Evans & Turnbull, 2004)
Study results on the impacts of non-nitrogen fixing plantation species mixed with Eucalyptus on the growth interactions and their impact on undergrowth vegetation in relation with light reaching under the canopies are lacking
The diversity of species (H') under the pure and mixed plantations is presented in Table 3 and its absolute result indicated that the mixed plantation is more diverse than the pure plantation of C. lusitanica and E. camaldulensis
Summary
The vast majorities of the world’s plantations are monocultures, with just a small number of tree genera (Eucalyptus, Pinus, and Tectona) widely used (FAO, 2001; Evans & Turnbull, 2004). Different comparative study results on the impact of species mixtures with Eucalyptus are available (Dan et al, 2003; Mila et al, 2006) These studies on mixed plantations of Eucalyptus were focused only on the growth and productivity of the plantation species. The species mixtures were nitrogen fixing, in which their results cannot represent the impact of Eucalyptus species mixed with non-nitrogen fixing species on productivity and regeneration These studies were specific to Eucalyptus pellita, and Eucalyptus saligna only. Study results on the impacts of non-nitrogen fixing plantation species mixed with Eucalyptus on the growth interactions and their impact on undergrowth vegetation in relation with light reaching under the canopies are lacking
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