Succession after disturbance of lowland mixed dipterocarp forest by shifting agriculture in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract

Slash-and-burn resulted in decreasing number of species, percentage of cover, frequency of seedling and sproutings. The initial seedlings play a major role in vegetation recovery of a tropical forest. The species composition changes along the successional gradients, reducing the proportion of pioneers vs increasing the primary forest species. Repeated burning for agriculture would change the forest community into Imperata grassland. -from Authors