SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND HISTORICAL DYNAMICS OF THREATENED CONIFERS OF THE DALAT PLATEAU, VIETNAM A thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Graduate School At the University of Missouri In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts By TRANG THI THU TRAN Dr. C. Mark Cowell, Thesis Supervisor MAY 2011 The undersigned, appointed by the dean of the Graduate School, have examined the thesis entitled SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND HISTORICAL DYNAMICS OF THREATENED CONIFERS OF THE DALAT PLATEAU, VIETNAM Presented by Trang Thi Thu Tran A candidate for the degree of Master of Arts of Geography And hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance. Professor C. Mark Cowell Professor Cuizhen (Susan) Wang Professor Mark Morgan ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research project would not have been possible without the support of many people. The author wishes to express gratitude to her supervisor, Prof. Dr. Mark Cowell who was abundantly helpful and offered invaluable assistance, support, and guidance. My heartfelt thanks also go to the members of supervisory committees, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cuizhen (Susan) Wang and Prof. Mark Morgan without their knowledge and assistance this study would not have been successful. I also wish to thank the staff of the Vietnam Initiatives Group, particularly to Prof. Joseph Hobbs, Prof. Jerry Nelson, and Sang S. Kim for their encouragement and support through the duration of my studies. I also extend thanks to the Conservation Leadership Programme (aka BP Conservation Programme) and Rufford Small Grands for their financial support for the field work. Deepest gratitude is also due to Sub-Institute of Ecology Resources and Environmental Studies (SIERES) of the Institute of Tropical Biology (ITB) Vietnam, particularly to Prof. Bui Lai and Mr. Nguyen Xuan Vinh for their encouragement and assistance in this research. Special thanks to Mr. Nguyen Van Huong, Director and Mr. Doan Doan Ai, vice- director of Bi Doup –Nui Ba National Park for providing me good working conditions during the field surveys. I wish to thank all the staff of the park for their assistance with the field work in the park. I express my sincere thanks to Dr. Jacinto Regalardo and Mr. Dzung Van Nguyen for his advice and guidance in the taxonomy. ii I would also like to convey thanks to faculty members and staff at the Department of Geography foe assisting me through my academic program. I wish to express my love and gratitude to Chau Nguyen, Thuong-Tung Nguyen, Cau Nguyen‟s family, Truc Bui, Hanh Nguyen, and Danniel Siedel for their understanding, sharing, and mental support throughout the duration of my studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. ii List of figures......................................................................................................................vi List of tables.......................................................................................................................vii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ix Chapter ............................................................................................................................... 1 1. Literature review ....................................................................................................…1 1. Overview of Vietnamese forest .........................................................................1 2. Vietnamese conifers ........................................................................................10 3. Coniferous forest dynamics .............................................................................24 a. Disturbance and forest structure .....................................................................24 b. Boreal forest dynamics ...................................................................................32 c. Mid-latitude coniferous forest dynamics .........................................................37 4. Research question ............................................................................................38 2. Methods and Materials .............................................................................................40 1. Study Area ......................................................................................................40 a. Location............................................................................................................40 b. Physical setting ................................................................................................41 c. Geology ............................................................................................................44 d. Climate .............................................................................................................44 iv 2. Data ..................................................................................................................45 a. Satellite image database ..................................................................................45 b. Field database...................................................................................................45 c. Data analysis ....................................................................................................47 3. Results ......................................................................................................................52 1. Accuracy of classification and Land cover patterns ........................................52 a. Accuracy of classification ................................................................................52 b. Land cover patterns ..........................................................................................54 2. The spatial distribution of conifer species .......................................................57 3. Forest structure.................................................................................................59 4. Discussion ..............................................................................................................70 1. Disturbance histories .......................................................................................70 2. HIstorical disturbance analysis ........................................................................74 5. Conclusion ......................................................................................................……76 Appendix ..............................................................................................................79 Bibliography ..............................................................................................................83 v LIST OF FIGURES 1. Figures 1 Location of Vietnam ..........................................................................3 2. Figure 2 Vietnamese forest cover in 1943, 1978, and in 1990 ..........................9 3. Figure 3 Main distribution zones of the conifers in Vietnam ..........................15 4. Figure 4 Idealized population age/size class distribution types .......................31 5. Figure 5 Representative diameter class distribution for each of the five diameter forms used to characterize structure .................................................32 6. Figure 6 Qualitative model of the interaction of fire and vegetation in the development and maintenance of sandhill, sand pine scrub, and xeric hardwood communities where sandhill and scrub are contiguous and a mesic hardwood seed source is absent .......................................................................38 7. Figure 7 Location of the study area, Bidoup-Nui Ba National Park in Vietnam 42 8. Figure 8 Physical setting of the Bidoup – Nui Ba National Park ..................43 9. Figure 9 Mean patterns of monthly temperature and rainfall at Lam Dong ....44 10. Figure 10 Landsat MSS (1970s) image and ETM (2000s) image of the path/ row 24/51-52 ....................................................................................................46 11. Figure 11 Satellite image classification process ..............................................49 12. Figure 12 The classification of land use/land cover in Bidoup–Nui Ba National Park in 2000 ......................................................................................56 13. Figure 13 The distribution of major landforms LULC classes according to elevation ...........................................................................................................57 vi 14. Figure 14 Land use/ land cover (2000) according to elevation within the study area ...................................................................................................................58 15. Figure 15 Size structure of conifers in the six sampled stands ........................65 16. Figure 16 Diameter – class distribution for coniferous species .......................66 17. Figure 17 Age-class distributions for coniferous species ................................69 18. Figure 18 Charcoal areas ................................................................................70 19. Figure 19 Road construction ............................................................................72 20. Figure 20 Logging............................................................................................73 21. Figure 21 Fire and Dead tree due