Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-7lfxl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-04-18T06:02:04.420Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Altitudinal zonation of rain forest on Bukit Belalong, Brunei: soils, forest structure and floristics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Colin A. Pendry  and
John Proctor
Colin A. Pendry
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Molecular Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK
John Proctor
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Molecular Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bukit Belalong, Brunei, is a small mountain (913 m) of uniform shale lithology with continuous primary rain forest from its base to its summit. Three 0.25 ha plots were established at each of three altitudes (200, 500 and 850 m) to investigate the altitudinal zonation of the soils and the vegetation. One soil profile from each altitude is described and chemical analyses of the soils indicate that they are similar at all altitudes. In each plot all trees ≥10 cm dbh were measured and identified as far as possible. Maximum tree height was greatest at 200 m (60 m) and least at 850 m (33 m). Tree density (number of individuals ha−1) increased with altitude. The forest at 850 m was the most species- and family-rich, but since the ratio of species to individuals did not vary significantly among altitudes, the higher species richness is attributed partly to the larger number of trees sampled. The Dipterocarpaceae was the most important family in terms of basal area at all altitudes, but its proportion of basal area was much smaller at 850 m than at the other altitudes. The Dipterocarpaceae was the most diverse family at 200 m and 500 m, but at 850 m its diversity was exceeded by the Lauraceae, Myrtaceae and Euphorbiaceae and equalled by the Clusiaceae. The forests at 200 m and 500 m are classified as lowland rain forest and that at 850 m is classified as a lower montane forest.

Keywords

altitudinal zonationBorneoBruneiDipterocarpaceaediversitymontanerain forestsoils

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , March 1997 , pp. 221 - 241
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

LITERATURE CITED

Allen, S. E. 1989. Chemical analysis of ecological materials (2nd edition). Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.Google Scholar
Ashton, P. S. 1964a. Ecological studies in the mixed dipterocarp forests of Brunei State. Oxford Forestry Memoirs 25.Google Scholar
Ashton, P. S. 1964b. A manual of the Dipterocarp trees of Brunei State. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Baillie, I. C. 1989. Soil characteristics and classification in relation to the mineral nutrition of tropical wooded ecosystems. Pp. 15–26 in Proctor, J. (ed.). Mineral nutrients in tropical forest and savanna ecosystems. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.Google Scholar
Baillie, I. C. & Ashton, P. S. 1983. Some soil aspects on the nutrient cycle in mixed dipterocarp forest in Sarawak. Pp. 347–356 in Sutton, S. L., Whitmore, T. C. & Chadwick, A. C. (eds). Tropical rain forest: ecology and management. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.Google Scholar
Brondijk, J. F. 1963. Reclassification of part of the Setap Shale Formation as the Temburong Formation. British Borneo Geological Survey Annual Report 1962, pp. 56–60.Google Scholar
Brower, J. E. & Zar, J. H. 1977. Field and laboratory methods for general ecology. Brown, Dubuque, Iowa.Google Scholar
Brown, W. H. 1919. Vegetation of Philippine mountains. Bureau of Printing, Manila.Google Scholar
Bruijnzeel, L. A. & Proctor, J. 1993. Hydrology and biogeochemistry of tropical montane cloud forests: what do we really know? pp. 25–46 in Hamilton, L. S., Juvik, J. O. & Scatena, F. N. (eds). Tropical montane cloud forests. United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Puerto Rico.Google Scholar
Bruijnzeel, L. A., Waterloo, M. J., Proctor, J., Kuiters, A. T. & Kotterink, B. 1993. Hydrological observations in montane rain forests on Gunung Silam, Sabah, Malaysia, with special reference to the Massenerhebung effect. Journal of Ecology 81:145–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burgess, P. F. 1969. Ecological factors in hill and mountain forests of the States of Malaya. Malayan Nature Journal 22:119–128.Google Scholar
Burnham, C. P. 1989. Pedological processes and nutrient supply from parent material in tropical wooded ecosystems. Pp. 15–26 in Proctor, J. (ed.). Mineral nutrients in tropical forest and savanna ecosystems. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.Google Scholar
Campbell, E. J. F. & Newbery, D. M. 1993. Ecological relationships between lianas and trees in lowland rain forest in Sabah, East Malaysia. Journal of Tropical Ecology 9:469–490.Google Scholar
Dykes, A. P.. 1994. Hydrological controls on shallow mass movements and characteristic slope forms in the tropical rain forest of Temburong District, Brunei. PhD Thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Edwards, P. J. 1977. Studies of mineral cycling in a montane rain forest in New Guinea. II. Production and disappearance of litter. Journal of Ecology 65:971–992.Google Scholar
Fao/Unesco. 1974. Soil map of the world 1:5 000 000. I. Legend. UNESCO, Paris.Google Scholar
Green, J. 1992. Fine root dynamics in a Bornean rain forest. PhD Thesis, University of Stirling.Google Scholar
Grubb, P. J. 1974. Factors controlling the distribution of forest types on tropical mountains: new facts and a new perspective. Pp. 13–46 in Flenley, J. R. (ed.). Altitudinal zonation of forests in Malesia. Department of Geography, University of Hull.Google Scholar
Grubb, P. J. & Tanner, E. V. J. 1976. The montane forests and soils of Jamaica: a reassessment. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 57:313–368.Google Scholar
Hamilton, L. S., Juvik, J. O. & Scatena, F. N. 1993. Tropical montane cloud forests. United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Puerto Rico.Google Scholar
Hill, M. O. 1979. Twinspan: A Fortran program for arranging multivariate data in an ordered two-way table by classification of the individuals and attributes. Cornell University, New York.Google Scholar
Hodgson, J. M. 1978. Soil sampling and description. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Kent, J. M. & Coker, P. 1992. Vegetation description and analysis. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Kitayama, K. 1992. An altitudinal transect study of the vegetation on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. Vegetatio 102:149–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kochummen, K. M. 1982. Effects of elevation on vegetation on Gunung Jerai, Kedah. Forestry Department, Kuala Lumpur.Google Scholar
Landon, J. R. 1992. Booker tropical soil manual. Longman, Harlow.Google Scholar
Martin, P. J. 1977. The altitudinal zonation of forests along the West ridge of Gunung Mulu. Forest Department, Sarawak.Google Scholar
Moore, P. D. & Chapman, S. B. 1986. Methods in plant ecology (2nd edition). Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.Google Scholar
Pendry, C. A. 1994. Ecological studies on rain forests at three altitudes on Bukit Belalong, Brunei. PhD Thesis, University of Stirling.Google Scholar
Pendry, C. A. & Proctor, J. 1996. The causes of altitudinal zonation of rain forests on Bukit Belalong, Brunei. Journal of Ecology 84:407–418.Google Scholar
Poulsen, A. D., Neilsen, I. C., Tan, S. & Balslev, H. 1996. A quantitative inventory of trees in one hectare of mixed dipterocarp forest in Temburong, Brunei. In Edwards, D. S., Booth, W. E. & Choy, S. C. (eds). Tropical rain forest research: current issues. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands (in press).Google Scholar
Poulsen, A. D. & Pendry, C. A. 1995. Inventories of ground herbs at three altitudes on Bukit Belalong, Brunei. Biodiversity and Conservation 4:745–757.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Proctor, J., Anderson, J. M., Chai, P. & Vallack, H. W. 1983. Ecological studies in four contrasting lowland rain forests in Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak. I. Forest environment, structure and floristics. Journal of Ecology 71:237–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Proctor, J., Lee, Y. F., Langley, A. M., Munro, C. M. & Nelson, T. 1988. Ecological studies on Gunung Silam, a small ultrabasic mountain in Sabah, Malaysia. I. Environment, forest structure and floristics. Journal of Ecology 76:320–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stadtmuller, T. 1987. Cloud forests in the humid tropics: a bibliographic review. The United Nations University, Tokyo, and Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza, Turrialba, Costa Rica.Google Scholar
Symington, C. F. 1943. Forester's manual of dipterocarps. Malayan Forester Records 16 (reprinted 1974, University of Malaya Press, Kuala Lumpur).Google Scholar
USDA. 1967. Supplement to soil classificaiton system, 7th approximation. Soil Conservation Service, US Department of Agriculture, Washington.Google Scholar
Van Steenis, C. G. G. J. 1972. The mountain flora of Java. E. J. Brill, Leiden.Google Scholar
Whitmore, T. C. 1984. Tropical rain forests of the Far East (2nd edition). Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Wood, G. H. S. & Meijer, W. 1964. The dipterocarps of Sabah (North Borneo). Sabah Forest Record Number 5. Forest Department, Sandakan.Google Scholar