Survey of flood-tolerant bamboos in 2011 flooding in Thailand

Abstract

This survey work was undertaken in 2013 but has never been published. Several places that suffered from the 2011 Thailand floods were surveyed during December 2012 to March 2013 to identify potential bamboo species that could tolerate flooding stress. In total, 23 survey points were investigated, mainly in those places where flooding persisted for relatively long periods. These also included another flood-prone area in the riparian forests along the Mun River, northeastern Thailand. Ten bamboo species were found in the study areas. Some bamboo species in the genus Bambusa were more flood-tolerant than those from other genera. The relatively well-known multi-purpose bamboo species, B. beecheyana, was the most flood-tolerant and it appeared that it could withstand being flooded for at least 5 mth.