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Survival, growth and reproduction by big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) in open clearing vs. forested conditions in Brazil

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Abstract

Big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) trees are often retained in agricultural fields and pastures for seed and timber production after selective logging and forest clearing in the Brazilian Amazon. At a forest management site in southeast Pará, we censused trees growing scattered across a large open clearing after forest removal and in heavily disturbed forest after selective logging and canopy thinning for survival, stem diameter growth, fruit production, and date of dry season flowering initiation annually during 1997–2003. Trees in the open clearing died at faster rates, grew more slowly, produced fewer fruit, and initiated flowering earlier, on average, than trees in logged and thinned forest during this period. The principal cause of mortality and stem damage in both environments was dry season groundfires. Mahogany trees in logged and thinned forest at the study site grew faster than mahogany trees at a selectively logged but otherwise undisturbed closed-canopy forest site in this region during the same period. This was likely due to vine elimination by groundfires, increased crown exposure after canopy thinning, and soil nutrient inputs due to groundfires. Without effective regulation and control of anthropogenic fires, attempts to manage remnant mahogany trees for future timber yields or to restore commercially viable populations in this region may prove futile.

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Acknowledgements

Principal funding support for this research was provided by the USDA Forest Service’s International Institute of Tropical Forestry. Support was also provided by the USDA Forest Service’s International Program, USAID Brasil, the Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation, the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO)’s Fellowship Programme, and the ITTO-CITES Timber Project. We thank the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology (CNPq) for granting permission to conduct fieldwork, and Peracchi Ltda for permission to conduct field research at the Agua Azul management site. We thank Mark Ashton and Ariel Lugo for their continuing support, and Miguel Alves de Jesus, Valdemir Ribeiro da Cruz, Manoel Rodrigues Vitorino, and Maria Nascimento Rodrigues for their dedication re-censusing trees.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, 360 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA

    James Grogan

  2. Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazônia (IMAZON), Rua Domingos Marreiros, 2020, Bairro Fátima, Belém, PA, 66060-160, Brazil

    James Grogan

  3. H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest & Oregon State University, PO Box 300, Blue River, OR, 97413, USA

    Mark Schulze

  4. Instituto Floresta Tropical (IFT), Caixa Postal 13077, Belém, PA, 66040-970, Brazil

    Mark Schulze

  5. School of Forest Resources & Conservation, University of Florida, PO Box 110760, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Mark Schulze

  6. Tauari/Capanema, Pará, Brazil

    Jurandir Galvão

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  1. James Grogan
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  3. Jurandir Galvão
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Correspondence to James Grogan.

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Grogan, J., Schulze, M. & Galvão, J. Survival, growth and reproduction by big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) in open clearing vs. forested conditions in Brazil. New Forests 40, 335–347 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-010-9203-2

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