Tree Community Structure and Composition of a One-Hectare Permanent Plot in the Montane Zone of Mount Kerinci, Kerinci Seblat National Park, Jambi

Abstract

Information on tree community structure and composition is needed in forest management and restoration. These data can be obtained using a permanent plot for studying forest dynamics, including species-specific characteristics. These characteristics are useful in the identification of native species for commercial and restoration purposes. This study aimed to describe the tree community structure and composition of a one-hectare permanent plot in the montane zone of Mount Kerinci. Data collection was conducted from July to August 2016 on Mount Kerinci, Jambi. A plot was established at 2,182-2,258 m above sea level and subdivided into 100 subplots. All trees ≥ 10 cm DBH were tagged and measured. Twenty-eight species, 18 genera, 20 families, 570 individuals and Shannon index 2.89 were identified. Most of the potential species richness was covered on the research site. Syzygium lineatum was the species with the highest importance value and Myrtaceae had the highest family importance level. The study area was dominated by slow growing species that characterize primary forests. The population structure indicated a good capacity of forest regeneration, while the vertical structure formed a stratification consisting of three strata. The dominant large trees and 5 hyperdominant trees according to total biomass contribution were identified. These species are an important priority in forest management and restoration.

Tree Communities and Aboveground Biomass in the Submontane Zone of Ketambe Resort, Mount Leuser National Park, Aceh

“…Tree Diversity Species richness of tree in two sampling sites was not different. This result is similar to Sulistyawati et al (2018) but lower Yamada (1975) . Lower species richness in two sampling site could be affected by altitude difference, size of the plot and past threats in Ketambe sampling plot.…”

“…Burangrang, Purwaningsih et al (2017) in Mt. Wilis, and absent in other previous studies in mountain area (Cahyanto et al, 2020;Sulistyawati et al, 2018;Yamada, 1975) Most of the families can be found on both sites. 13 families can be found on both sites.…”

“…This simulation did not show a significant difference in predicted species richness in both sites. The number of sampling plot must be increased to cover all species richness in study sites (Sulistyawati et al, 2018) . Even though the species richness was similar to Kerinci plot (Sulistyawati et al, 2018) , diversity index in two sampling sites of Ketambe was higher.…”

“…The number of sampling plot must be increased to cover all species richness in study sites (Sulistyawati et al, 2018) . Even though the species richness was similar to Kerinci plot (Sulistyawati et al, 2018) , diversity index in two sampling sites of Ketambe was higher. We predicted the species evenness in Ketambe plots were higher than Kerinci plot and affected this result.…”

“…Family important value (FIV) showed that Lauraceae, Myrtaceae and Dipterocarpace were dominated in both sites (Table 3). Generally, the dominance of Dipterocarpaceae family reflected the lowland rainforest formation (Rahmah et al, 2016) , while the higher altitudes forest were represented by Lauraceae and Myrtaceae families (Laumonier, 1997;Sulistyawati et al, 2018) . This result added range distribution of Dipterocarpaceae up to lower submontane forest of Mt.…”