Soils and Vegetation Condition of Natural Forests and Secondary Fallow Forests within Batang Ai National Park Boundary, Sarawak, Malaysia
2011
Under the current upland farming systems by the Iban of Sarawak, Malaysia, lands with better accessibility
are being intensively utilized for various forms of agricultural activities. This has resulted in
large patches of fallow lands with difficult accessibility which were later abandoned and remained
as old secondary forests. In this study, an investigation on soil and vegetation under various types of
forest cover was conducted at the Batang Ai National Park boundary to determine whether the old
abandoned secondary forests in the area can recover and reach an ecological status similar to that of
natural forests. Investigation was conducted at 3 types of sites: young fallow lands after upland rice
cultivation with fallow period of less than 5 years (YF), old secondary forests with fallow period
of about 50 years (OF), and natural forests (NF). In these sites, soil surveys were conducted and
soil samples were collected at tepths of 0-10 cm, 30-40 cm and 60-70 cm for soil physicochemical
determination. Vegetation surveys involving plant identification, plant frequency of occurrence and
measurements of stem diameter (DBH) were also conducted in these sites. The results showed that
irrespective of forest types, all studied soils showed a strongly acidic nature with low nutrient contents.
In addition, no clear differences were observed in the soil physicochemical properties among
the forest types although soil pH in YF sites were significantly lower than those of OF and NF sites
probably due to the pand use history of these sites. On the other hand, the results showed that vegetation
under NF sites possessed better tree growth, in diameter, than OF and YF sites. Based on these
findings, it is suggested that due to the poor soil fertility status in the area, 50 years of fallow period
would be insufficient for the land to recover its vegetation condition aquivalent to that of natural forests.
Taking into account ouch a situation, forests in the study area should be left undisturbed as their
removal ould greatly accelerate severe land degradation, and rehabilitation of auch a land would be a
difficult task.
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