Evergreen swamp forest in Cambodia: floristic composition, ecological characteristics, and conservation status

Abstract

As part of recent field studies, a hitherto undescribed type of evergreen freshwater swamp forest was discovered in Stung Treng Province, Cambodia. The swamp forest occurs in at least six disjunct localities and is dominated by hydrophytic trees (Eugenia spp., Ficus spp., Litsea spp., Macaranga triloba, Myristica iners and Pternandra caerulescens). Although these same genera also occur in upland forests, most are represented by different species in the swamps. Livistona saribus emerges from the canopy as an indicator species of this vegetation type while dense stands of other palms (Calamus, Areca, Licuala) and sporadic, dense populations of tree ferns (Cibotium barometz) dominate the understory. Pneumatophores, stilt roots, and aerial roots characterize the hydrophytes. The floristic composition indicates that the forest type is distinct compared to other swamp forests described from the region and worthy of protection based on its rarity and ecological uniqueness.

The Environmental Impact of Cambodia's Ancient City of Mahendraparvata (Phnom Kulen)

“…Tetrameles , however, occurs in semi-evergreen forest, but it is impossible to be more specific without resolving the problematic taxonomy of these pollen types [49]. The same is true of the Lithocarpus/Castanopsis pollen group, as species such as Lithocarpus polystachyus are known to occupy periodically inundated sites [48] and may have been recruited into littoral swamp forest communities. Despite the occurrence of pollen from common dryland taxa (such as Dipterocarpus ), there is no unequivocal dryland forest signal in the pollen record, and only one occurrence of an economic tree ( Borassus flabellifer , four individuals recorded at 153 cm depth, an interpolated age of middle 11 th century) [50].…”

The biological, ecological and conservation significance of freshwater swamp forest in Singapore

“…The environmental conditions of a tropical freshwater swamp forest are similar to those of a tropical dryland rain forest, but in general, the tree canopy of the freshwater swamp forest is lower than that in the lowland dipterocarp forest (Corner, 1978;Theilade et al, 2011). The vegetation structure in freshwater swamp forests is often dependent on the nutrients present in the water source and the flooding regime of the forest (Junk et al, 2011).…”

“…Other wetland habitats, such as mangrove and peat swamp forests, have tended to receive more attention (Dudgeon, 2000). Nevertheless, the freshwater swamp forests of Peninsular Malaysia were surveyed relatively comprehensively by Corner (1978), and additional work has been done in Cambodia (Theilade et al, 2011) and Singapore Turner et al, 1996;Lim et al, 2011).…”

Who Wants to Save the Forest? Characterizing Community-Led Monitoring in Prey Lang, Cambodia

“…Prey Lang forest holds great ecological (Theilade et al 2011;Hayes et al 2015), economic (Jiao et al 2015;Hüls Dyrmose et al 2017), and cultural (Turreira-García et al 2017) value.…”