Vascular plant species richness and composition in two types of post-cultivation tropical secondary forest

• Published in: Applied vegetation science 2017-10, Vol.20 (4), p.692-701
• Main Authors: Neo, Louise, Yee, Alex T.K., Chong, Kwek Yan, Kee, Carmen Y., Tan, Hugh T.W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abandoned land; Agricultural land; Agricultural management; Canopies; Community composition; Cultivation; Depth perception; Exotic‐dominated vegetation; Forestry wastes; Forests; Herbivores; Introduced species; Land use; Landscape; Leaf litter; Leaves; Nutrient enrichment; Nutrients; Patches (structures); Plant communities; Plant populations; Plantations; Planting; Plants; Plants (botany); Post‐agriculture; Soil nutrients; Soils; Species richness; Tropical forests; Wasteland
• ISSN: 1402-2001; 1654-109X
• DOI: 10.1111/avsc.12322

Question: How are plant communities in forests regenerating on post-cultivation land structured along environmental gradients, landscape context and past land use? We investigated this for two types of post-agricultural fates: plantations abandoned with trees intact (abandoned land forest) versus land that was cleared and left to regenerate into a forest (waste woodland). Location: The tropical city-state of Singapore, Southeast Asia. Methods: Five 20 m × 20 m plots were surveyed for vascular plants in each of 11 patches of abandoned land forest and nine patches of waste woodland. For each plot, we estimated soil nutrient levels (N, K, P), canopy cover, leaf litter depth, distance to old-growth forest and the size of the forest patch. Results: For both forest types, increasing leaf litter and distance to old-growth forest is associated with lower species richness. Increasing soil N in abandoned land forest and increasing soil K in waste woodland is associated with lower total and native species richness, but not exotic species richness. Overall community composition is correlated with leaf litter, canopy cover, soil P and K and distance to old-growth forest. Conclusions: Different forms of land abandonment resulted in different successional trajectories that led to separate sets of environmental drivers of community patterns. Restoring such degraded forms of vegetation to native-rich communities may require management of soil nutrient levels and enrichment planting.