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Does Soil Fertility Influence the Vegetation Diversity of a Tropical Peat Swamp

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Does Soil Fertility Influence the Vegetation Diversity of a Tropical Peat Swamp Does soil fertility influence the vegetation diversity of a tropical peat swamp forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia? By Leanne Elizabeth Milner Dissertation presented for the Honours degree of BSc Geography Department of Geography University of Leicester 24 th February 2009 Approx number of words (12,000) 1 Contents Page LIST OF FIGURES I LIST OF TABLES II ABSTRACT III ACKNOWLEGEMENTS IV Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1.1 Aim 2 1.2 Objectives 2 1.3 Hypotheses 2 1.4 Scientific Background and Justification 3 1.5 Literature Review 7 1.5.1 Soil Fertility and Vegetation Species Diversity 7 1.5.2 Tropical Peatlands 7 1.5.3 Vegetation and Soil in tropical peatlands 8 1.5.4 Hydrology 14 1.5.5 Phenology and Rainfall 15 Chapter 2 : Methodology 17 2.1 Study Site and Transects 18 2.2 Soil Analysis 21 2.3 Chemical Analysis 22 2.4 Tree Data 25 2.5 Phenology Data 25 2.6 Rainfall Data 26 2.7 Data Analysis 26 2.7.1 Soil Data Analysis 26 2.7.2 Tree Data Analysis 26 2.7.3 Phenology Data Analysis 28 2 2.7.4 Rainfall Data Analysis 28 Chapter 3: Analysis 29 3.1 Tree and Liana Analysis 30 3.1.1 Basal Area and Density 31 3.1.2 Relative Importance Values 33 3.2 Peat Chemistry Analysis 35 3.3 Tree Phenology Analysis 43 3.4 Rainfall Analysis 46 Chapter 4: Discussion 47 4.1 Overall Findings 48 4.2 Peat Chemistry 48 4.3 Vegetation and Phenology 51 4.4 Peat Depth and Gradient 53 4.5 Significance of the Water Table 54 4.6 Limitations and Areas for further Research 56 Chapter 5: Conclusion 59 5.0 Conclusion 60 REFERENCES 62 APPENDICES 67 Appendix A: Soil Nutrient Analysis 68 Appendix B: Regression Outputs 70 Appendix C: Tree Data ON CD Appendix D: Phenology Data ON CD 3 List of Figures Figure 1 – Distribution of tropical peatlands in South East Asia and location of the study area. Figure 2 – Photograph of pnueumatophores (breathing roots). Figure 3- Photograph of Riverine type vegetation. Figure 4 – Photograph of Mixed Swamp forest vegetation Figure 5 - Data table taken from Page et al (1999) outlining the changes in peat thickness, surface elevation, gradient and corresponding forest type in the Sungai Sebangau catchment. Figure 6 - Peat surface elevation, peat thickness and mineral ground topography along a 24.5km transect from Sungai Sebangau. Source – Page et al (1999). Figure 7 - Peat water table levels recorded at the end of the 1993 dry season in study plots located in peat swamp forest in the upper catchment of the Sungai Sebangau. Source- Page et al (1999). Figure 8 - Map of Indonesia (Kalimantan circled in red). Figure 9- Map of Setia Alam base camp in relation to Palangkaraya Figure 10 - Remote Sensing image (false colour composite) of Sebangau field area. Figure 11 - Transects and phenology plots at the Setia Alam field station. Figure 12 - Flow diagram showing the methodology for determining pH of each peat sample. Figure 13 - Flow Diagram showing the methodology for determining Calcium, Magnesium and Potassium content of each peat sample. Figure 14 - Flow Diagram showing the methodology for determining organic carbon content I of each peat sample. 4 Figure 15- Flow Diagram showing the methodology for determining nitrogen content of each peat sample. Figure 16 – Flow diagram showing the methodology for determining phosphorous content of each sample. Figure 16 - Formulae for Simpson Diversity Index. Figure 17 - Results of Simpson Diversity Index of tree and liana data against distance into the forest. The graph shows the average diversity within each phenology plot. Figure 18 - Basal area (cm3) of all trees > 6cm dbh of each vegetation plot (0.15ha) against distance into forest. Figure 19 - Tree density (ha -1) of all trees >6cm dbh extrapolated from all vegetation plots against distance into forest. Figure 20 - (a) Average Ph of peat samples at each transect location against distance into the forest. (b) Average pH of peat samples at each transect location against tree and liana diversity using the Simpson Diversity Index at each phenology plot. Figure 21 - (a) Percent organic carbon in peat samples against distance into forest. (b) % organic carbon against diversity. Figure 22 - (a) Nitrogen in peat samples against distance into the forest. (b) Nitrogen content of peat samples against diversity. Figure 23 - (a) Phosphorous content of peat samples against distance into forest (b) Phosphorous content against species diversity. Figure 24 - (a) Potassium content against distance into the forest. (b) Potassium content II against species diversity. 5 Figure 25 - (a) Calcium content against distance into the forest. (b) Calcium content against species diversity Figure 26 - (a) Magnesium content against distance into the forest. (b) Magnesium content against species diversity. Figure 27- Carbon Nitrogen ratio of peat samples at each transect location against distance into the forest. Figure 28 - Percent of trees in flower in July in all phenology plots from 0.4 – 3.5 km. Figure 29 - Average percent trees in flower for all months and years (01/07/2004 – 1/07/07) plotted against distance into the forest (km). Figure 30 - A scatter plot, percent of trees in flower in the month of July from 2004 to 2007 against the Simpson diversity index generated for each corresponding phenology plot. Figure 31 - Percentage of trees in flower in 2007 across all vegetation plots. Figure 32 - Percentage of trees in flower using data from 2004-2007 . Figure 33 - Line graph comparing average monthly rainfall for Palangkaraya with mean percent of trees in flower (2004-2007). Figure 34 – Photographs of (a) Transition forest (b) Mixed Swamp forest. 6 List of Tables Table 1 - Locations of transects and sampling points for soil samples. Table 2 - The tree and liana diversity at 6 phenology plot locations across their corresponding transect locations in the Sebangau forest. The Simpson diversity index determines the diversity of species on a scale of 0-1. (0=most diverse, 1 = least diverse.) Table 3 - Chemical Analysis Data for surface peat at 6 transect locations in the Sebangau forest. The results show an average of 5 samples collected at each transect location. The mean calculated is the mean of all the values, n=30. Table 4 - The tree and liana diversity at 6 phenology plot locations across their corresponding transect locations in the Sebangau forest. The Simpson diversity index determines the diversity of species on a scale of 0-1. (0=most diverse, 1 = least diverse.) Table 5 - Location, vegetation type, basal area and tree density for selected plots (0.15ha) (Basal area for all trees < 6cm dbh), in the Sg, Sebangau Catchment, Central Kalimantan. Table 6 - Forest type, Number of Species and Relative Importance Values (RIV’s) for the most dominant species across transects 0.4 km to 3.5km . 7 Acknowledgments In the writing of this dissertation I would like to thank various people for their help and support during the decision making process, collection of data and final write up. Firstly Dr Susan Page who initially suggested I complete the study in Kalimantan and for her excellent advice and support throughout the whole process. This research would not have been possible without the help from OUTROP especially Laura Graham and Simon Husson who helped me to design the project and ensured all people involved were safe when in the forest. A special thank you to my friend Sarah Read who travelled with me to Kalimantan to help collect my data and for keeping me sane when the novelty of cold rice for breakfast began to wear off! Last but by no means least thank you to my boyfriend Lee Shepherd for helping with the important job of proof reading and general moral support. 8 Abstract There is a clear uniformity in peat nutrient status across the ‘Mixed Swamp Forest’ and ‘Transition Forest’ types. It is clear from vegetation analysis that there are distinct changes in species diversity, basal area and density although justification by peat chemistry alone is not sufficient. Other ecological and hydrological factors must be considered as the ombrotrophic peatland system is far more complex than can be explained solely by peat nutrient status. Analysis of peat chemistry was conducted across six transect locations in the upper catchment of the Sungai Sebangau peat swamp forest, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. There were no statistically significant relationships between any one nutrient content and distance therefore providing evidence for homogeneity. Vegetation data was used to calculate species diversity and it was apparent that there are differences in floristic structure as vegetation diversity decreases with distance. Percentage of trees in flower decreases slightly with distance, thus providing further evidence for changes in vegetation across the peat dome. It can be deduced that peat nutrient content is not a significant causal factor in determining flowering, due to the presence of comparatively constant concentrations of nutrients. Consideration of peat depth, gradient and level of water table was applied to the discussion therefore facilitating a more comprehensive justification for the controls on vegetation structure. The presence of nutrients is critical for vegetation growth, however it is the actual uptake which is likely to be a more significant factor. Characteristics of the peat dome influence the delivery and hence the uptake of nutrients that are subsequently used in vegetation nutrition. 9 Introduction 10 1.0 Introduction Title: Does soil fertility control vegetation species diversity in tropical peatlands of Central Kalimantan? 1.1 Aim: To compare soil chemical properties, species diversity and productivity across the Setia Alam field station, and to explore other ecological factors that may control vegetation species diversity.
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