Assessing Soil Biological Properties of Natural and Planted Forests in the Malaysian Tropical Lowland Dipterocarp Forest

Karam,

doi:10.3844/ajassp.2011.854.859

Cited by 9 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…These forests consist of unique and complex ecosystems which are home to the country's rich flora and fauna. Tropical forest area is disappearing at the rate of 13.5 million ha per year, mainly due to clearing for plantation or agriculture and shifting cultivation (Daljit et al, 2011). According to FAO (2010), Malaysia's total forest area decreased by 434 000 hectares between 2005 and 2010 (an annual decline of 0.42%) and by 1.92 million hectares between 1990 and 2010 of the estimated 17.1 million hectares of dry inland forests, 5.48 million hectares are in Peninsular Malaysia, 7.83 million hectares are in Sarawak and 3.84 million hectares are in Sabah (ITTO, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Soil Fertility Status of Rehabilitated Degraded Tropical Rainforest

Jamaluddin

Abdu

Hamid

et al. 2013

American Journal of Environmental Sciences

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An assessment of forest rehabilitation program in relation to soil fertility status by using soil indices could provide fundamental information on soil suitability for species preferences and improve the effective technique for future rehabilitation program in tropical rainforests. This study was conducted in order to characterize the soil properties and identifying the soil fertility status of rehabilitated and secondary forests. Soil samples were collected in year 2009 at rehabilitation forests (20 years after planting) and secondary forest of Nirwana Forest Reserve, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Bintulu Campus, Sarawak, Malaysia. The rehabilitation plots were planted with mixed dipterocarp and non-dipterocarp species since 1991. Prior to conversion of the areas into various land use types, the rehabilitation and secondary forests areas were considered as natural forests and subsequently subjected to forest logging with Selective Management System (SMS) in 1980s.The plot size for each site was 20×20 m for 18 experimental sites (at different ages after planting) were established, followed by soil sampling at 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm depth randomly using soil auger. Standard soil analysis for physical and chemical properties was used to analyze the soil samples. The soil fertility status was evaluated using two indices, namely Soil Fertility Index (SFI) and Soil Evaluation Factor (SEF) for both rehabilitated and secondary forests. The results showed that there were significant differences (p<0.05) in pH (water and KCl), exchangeable Mg, Na, Al and ammonium and granule composition (clay, silt and sand) between depths. The PCA result of 70% total variability (OM, TOC, TC and CEC) score in PC1 shows positive relationship, explaining nutrients in the soil stored in the organic matter in the surface soils. The correlation analysis indicated that there were positive relationship (p<0.05) between OM and TC, CEC and exchangeable Al for surface soils. We found that the selected physico-chemical properties had a significant differences based on the age of planting of rehabilitated forests. For subsurface soils, correlation between exchangeable Al and OM and CEC shows strong positive relationship, indicating that negative charge derived from organic materials plays important roles for cation retention capacity. The SFI and SEF for rehabilitation forests showed higher value as compared to secondary forests, indicating forest rehabilitation had improved the soil fertility status of degraded forestland. In conclusion, both rehabilitated and secondary forests have significant differences based on the selected physical and chemical properties. Moreover, the soil fertility status at rehabilitated plots was higher than secondary forest, which is proved that the forest rehabilitation technique is a suitable planting technique for rehabilitating and replenishing soil fertility status of abandoned degraded shifting cultivation land.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Soil Fertility Status of Rehabilitated Degraded Tropical Rainforest

Jamaluddin

Abdu

Hamid

et al. 2013

American Journal of Environmental Sciences

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“…Malaysia is one of the mega-biodiversity countries in the world known for its tropical rainforest (Arifin et al, 2008;Hamzah et al, 2009;Zaidi et al, 2010;Karam et al, 2011;. Tropical rainforest is a system that is in constant flux where it is continuously restructuring itself (Gonzalez-Iturbe et al, 2002;Aquilar-Amuchastequi and Henebry, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Status of Soil Microbial Population, Enzymatic Activity and Biomass of Selected Natural, Secondary and Rehabilitated Forests

Singh

Abdu

Othman

et al. 2013

American Journal of Environmental Sciences

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Substantial clearance of forests and conversion of forest into various land use types contribute to deterioration of soil fertility and associated nutrients loss. Soils from natural and rehabilitated forest in Chikus Forest Reserve and also enrichment planting forest and secondary forest of Tapah Hill Forest Reserve, Perak, Malaysia were selected in order to assess the influence of land use change on biological properties. This study was carried out to provide fundamental information on soil biological properties and also to compare the differences between natural forest, mono-rehabilitated forest, mixed planting forest and natural regenerated forest (secondary forest). Six subplots (20×20 m) were established at each study plot and soil samples were collected at the depths of 0-15 cm (topsoil) and 15-30 cm (subsoil). Soil microbial population was determined using spread-plate technique. Fluorescein Diacetate (FDA) hydrolysis was used to assess the amount of microbial enzymatic activity for each forest plot. Soil Microbial Biomass C (MBC) and N (MBN) were extracted using chloroform fumigation extraction technique and the amount of MBC was determined by dichromate digestion, while MBN via Kjeldahl digestion technique. Soil acidity was determined by pH meter and moisture content was elucidated using gravimetric method. The levels of microbial population of bacterial and fungal at natural significantly exceeded the corresponding values of rehabilitated and secondary forest. However, microbial population is much higher in rehabilitated forest of Tapah Hill compared to that of secondary forest and also Chikus Forest Reserve planted forest which proves that rehabilitation activities do help increase the level of microbial community in the soils. Longer period of time after planting as in enrichment planting compared to mono planting of S. leprosula plantation showed that restoring and recovery of the planted forest needed time. Deforestation activities decrease soil biological activities; however, proper forest management and rehabilitation activities are able to restore the condition of degraded forest land to its original state.

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“…Microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen of the soil samples were extracting using rapid chloroform fumigation extraction approaches as described by Witt et al (2000). Then, the concentration of microbial biomass carbon was determined using wet dichromate digestion oxidation (Vásquez-Murrieta et al, 2007;Karam et al, 2011;Singh et al, 2013;Karam et al, 2015). Microbial biomass nitrogen was determined using Kjedahl digestion and distillation technique (Brookes et al, 1985;Karam et al, 2013b).…”

Section: Soil Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Biological properties including microbial enzymatic activity and biomass are sensitive indicator that illustrates the effect of changes or disturbances subjected on particular forest soil due to the sensitive nature and rapid turnover of the soil microorganisms (Karam et al, 2011;Arifin et al, 2012). In addition, availability of nutrients in the soils are also correlated and influenced by soil microorganisms which play a major role in nutrient cycling of the soil.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proposed Soil Quality Index for Rehabilitated Tropical Forest Sites in Malaysia

Karam¹,

Abdu²,

Rajoo³

et al. 2017

American Journal of Applied Sciences

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A proposed soil quality index named Tropical Soil Quality Index 2 (TSQI2) was developed in this study using statistical analysed data of selected properties (physical, chemical and biological) of composite soil samples collected from natural, secondary and rehabilitated forests of Chikus and Tapah Hill Forest Reserves, Perak, Malaysia. Results of soil evaluation using TSQI2 showed higher values for planted forest in Chikus Forest Reserve compared to those of the rehabilitated forest in Tapah Hill Forest Reserve. Likewise, rehabilitated forest of Tapah Hill Forest Reserve had slightly higher index value compared to that of the secondary forest. The higher index for rehabilitated Chikus Forest Reserve compared to that of the natural forest was due to high MBC/MBN ratio values. The reason for this condition was the lower amount of microbial biomass nitrogen as compared to microbial biomass carbon. Plant growth performance of dominant trees species showed that Shorea leprosula was high in natural forests, followed by rehabilitated forest of Tapah Hill Forest Reserve. The newly proposed TSQI2 (which had been validated using actual data) is suitable for determining the quality of natural and rehabilitated forests in tropical regions.

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Assessing Soil Biological Properties of Natural and Planted Forests in the Malaysian Tropical Lowland Dipterocarp Forest

Cited by 9 publications

References 28 publications

Assessing Soil Fertility Status of Rehabilitated Degraded Tropical Rainforest

Assessing Soil Fertility Status of Rehabilitated Degraded Tropical Rainforest

Status of Soil Microbial Population, Enzymatic Activity and Biomass of Selected Natural, Secondary and Rehabilitated Forests

Proposed Soil Quality Index for Rehabilitated Tropical Forest Sites in Malaysia

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