Article Sidebar
Keywords:
Article Details
Submission of a manuscript implies; that the work described has not been published before (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, or thesis) that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication, the authors agree to automatic transfer of the copyright to the publisher.
Copyrights for the papers published in UJAS are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. The journal is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the responsibility of the author to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.
The journal has an online Open Access policy licensed according to Creative Commons Share-Alike Non-Commercial.
Main Article Content
Logging, arboricide treatments and regeneration at Budongo Forest, Uganda
Abstract
A study was carried out to detect whether logging and arboricide treatments had influences on floristic composition of four
compartments in Budongo Forest, Uganda. The compartments were (N15) which had never been logged or treated; B4)
logged 50 years; N4 logged 40 years, and W2I logged 30 years ago. The species treated were Ficus species, Alstonia boonei
and Cynometra alexandri. In addition to arboricide treatment logging was mainly on trees of the meliaccae family. Data
were collected from 16 points in each compartment and gradient of variation were identified using the stand tables for each
compartment. Results were compared with Eggeling's plot data collected at Budongo 50 years ago. It was found that
logging affected the forest structure, and the floristic composition was influenced by the succession state at the time of
treatment Furthermore, variation in the forest was not readily related to the time of logging/arboricide treatment. Despite
the treatments, the residual stands retained the general character of the pre-exploitation forest and in the ensuing time they
all assumed broadly similar comrositions. The most distinct (compartment B4) still showed features of colonising forest
which were much fess evident in others. The control compartment (N15) was still different; it contained more forest tree
individuals of secondary species than any of the other compartments. This suggests that Eggeling's time scale for the forest
succession, and perhaps even his successional assumption should be reconsidered.
Key words: Arboricide treatment, logging, forest structure, species composition. natural regeneration
