Ecosystems Notes - March 29, 2001

Akiko Ogawa’s

EFB516 Ecosystems Notes

March 29, 2001 (Thu)

Disclaimer:

These notes are my personal notes. The course instructor or TAs have no responsibility for the contents or any discrepancies between the materials presented in the classroom and these notes. You cannot use or refer to these notes to support or defend your answers on your exams. I suggest you use these notes to complement your own notes, and not to solely rely on. I would appreciate your feedback on any part of these notes that I may be misunderstanding.

Announcements:

Ø Abu Ali’s seminar about urban ecology on April 2 (Mon), 11:40 at 5 Illick (Dr. Hall’s Global Environment class). Interested students should listen to it.

Lecturer: Siripun Taweesuk, PhD student working with Dr. Hall in EFB.

Lecture topic:

1. Forests in Thailand

2. Modeling Land Use in Thailand

1.Forests in Thailand

Thailand

Ø Time difference = 12 hours. Located around Tropic Cancer.

Ø Climate: summer monsoon. Summer: February to May. Average temperature > 90 deg. F. Receive full radiation causing hot and dry weather especially in north.

Classification of Forests in Thailand

┌Evergreen Forest ┬ Tropical Evergreen Forest ┬ Tropical Rain Forest

│ │ ├ Dry Evergreen Forest

│ │ └ Hill Evergreen Forest

│ ├ Coniferous Forest (2 species of Pinus)

│ ├ Swamp Forest ┬ Peat Swamp Forest

│ │ ├ Freshwater Swamp Forest

│ │ └ Mangrove Forest

│ └ Beach Forest

│

└Deciduous Forest ┬ Mixed Deciduous Forest (high commercial value tree, Teak is produced)

├ Deciduous Dipterocarp or Dry Dipterocarp

└ Savanna

Forests are important water storage. Northern U.S. – snowmelt.

Slides

§ TRF in Thiland is an important source of latin.

Tropical Rain Forests

§ TRFs are located between Tropic Cancer and Capricorn. Rainfall in TRF is approx. 2000mm/yr.

§ Close-up of forest floor: sensitive floor.

§ Soil texture is loose. Many seedlings.

Forests with 2 to 3 months dry season

§ Less dense canopy. More light penetrating down through the stories.

§ Many seedlings and saplings in the understory.

§ Litterfall sampling equipment.

§ Strangler fig.

§ Hill evergreen Forest

Some pinus species are present, sometime mixed with Dipterocarp. High elevations of northern Thailand, or southern Thailand with 2500mm/yr rain throughout 12 months.
Deforestation: Thailand is not evenly developed. People in rural area burn the pine bark to stimulate resin production.

§ Swamp Forest

Peat under the swamp water. People drain water from swamp forests ==> dry up ==> plants die. Soil is acidic due to sulfur. These forests cannot regenerate.

§ Mangrove forest

Mangrve forests are found along the coast and estuaries.

§ ??? another kind of forest

Bumboo forest: there are two kinds of bumboos.
Epiphytes are sold as ornamental plants.

§ Forest with Grass-like bumboo understory: maintained by fire.

Dry season and rainy season.

§ Dry Dpterocarp Forest

§ Savanna Forest

After deforestation – hard to reforest.
Northern part of Thailand: contrast between National Forest and private land.

§ Two ethnic groups in Thailand: 99%=Thai, 1% Hill tribe. Most of Hill tribes live in the forest. They need wood for fuel.

§ National Forest area: People illegally move in. The government cannot chase them out.

§ Agroforestry: tree plantation (Australian Eucalyptus) + rice paddy. Eucalyptus is fast growing (2 to 3 years). But some people say eucalyptus destroys soils.

§ Spraying insecticide on Teak trees, high commercial value tree.

2.Modeling Land-use in Thailand

§ Land-use in Chiang Mai

§ Methods & Materials

Ø Analysis of change in population, socioeconomic level and land-use.

Ø Analysis of satellite digital images for land-use in 1995

Ø Simmulation of the pattern of land-use change.

The strongest factor correlated with deforestation is population density.

§ Analysis of satellite imates for land use in 1995.

Ø Data from Thailand Remote Sencing Center.

Ø Cost ~$10,000.

Ø Landsat TM 5 full scenes.

Ø Path 131 Row 46 (Jan 5, 1995)

Ø 7 bands, BSQ digital

Ø Spatial resolution 30m.

§ Landsat image of the study area.

§ ‘’ of Chiang Mai

§ Forested, non-forest, and urban area analyzed from 7 bands.

§ Simulated forested areas shows that areas near rivers has high potential to turn to non-forest.

Last modified: March 31, 2001

Any comments? E-mail to akogwa@syr.edu