Phenology and Seasonal Growth of Dry Dipterocarp Forest Tree Species

Abstract

Within a forest ecosystem, the phonological behavior of plants usually affect the animal life by the availability of food e.g. young leaves, nectar in flower and fruits. Knowledges on seasonal variation in vegetation are thus necessary to understand the animal activity. Sound silvicultrual practices are also based on information of flowering, fruiting and growth periodicities of forest trees. Wycherley (11) gave a partial review of the past phenological works in the humid torpics, some of which could be applicable to Thailand such as those carried out in a tropical rain forest of Malaysia by McClure (5) and Medway (6). However, phonological observations in the deciduous forests of South-east Asia are still meager. Defoliation of four dry dipterocarp forest tree species was studied by Nalamphun et al. (7) and Smitinand et al. (10). The present study provides records of the ecologic seasonal periodicity of plants in an undisturbed dry dipterocarp forest of Sakaerat.