Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T22:04:46.205Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Forests of the ultramafic mount Giting-Giting, Sibuyan Island, the Philippines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2010

J. Proctor ,
G. C. Argent  and
D. A. Madulid
J. Proctor
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Molecular Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK.
G. C. Argent
Affiliation:
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20A Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5LR, UK.
D. A. Madulid
Affiliation:
Botany Department, National Museum, Manila, Republic of the Philippines.
Get access

Abstract

Mount Giting-Giting is an ultramafic mountain on Sibuyan Island, Romblon Province, Republic of the Philippines. It was studied along the Mayo's Peak Ridge which had rainforest from about 200m up to c. 1550m. The grassland and scrub vegetation from 1550m to the summit (2050m) of Giting-Giting was not explored. The mean annual rainfall at the base of the mountain was c.2100mm which included a dry season around February and March. There was a notable increase in wind speed with altitude and there was about one hurricane (called a cyclone in the Philippines) per year. Analyses showed that the soils are acid ( 4.4–5.5), and have relatively low concentrations of Olsen extractable phosphorus (0.22–2.07μg g−1), low exchangeable potassium (0.04–0.41mEq 100g−1), and relatively low (for ultramafic soils) Mg/Ca quotients (0.31–2.87) and exchangeable nickel (1.0-23.8μg g−1). Coupled plots (of 0.25 or 0.04ha) were studied at altitudes from 325m to 1540m. All trees ≥ 10cm dbh were enumerated and structural features of the trees and smaller plants were quantified. The forests were all of fairly small stature (maximum tree height 24m) but dense (up to 2180 trees ha−1 in Lower Montane Forest (LMF) and up to 880 ha−1 in Upper Montane Forest (UMF)). While different taxa could be readily recognized, specific determinations were often impossible from the mainly sterile specimens. The LMF was species rich with up to at least 111 species of tree (≥ 10cm dbh) per 0.25-ha plot. There was no family clearly dominant in the two lower plots at 325m and 385m (where the Dipterocarpaceae were probably reduced by logging). At 770m and 860m the Dipterocarpaceae accounted for 12.9% and 14.7% of the basal area respectively. There was a surprisingly high representation of the Sapotaceae (25.9% of the basal area) at 1240m. At 1540m, the Araucariaceae (Agathis sp.) dominated one plot (37.1% of the basal area) and the Myrtaceae the other (72.4%).

Keywords

Floristicstropical foreststropical soilsultramafic
Type
Articles
Information
Edinburgh Journal of Botany , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , July 1998 , pp. 295 - 316
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baker, A. J. M., Proctor, J. & Reeves, R. D. (eds) (1992). The Vegetation of Ultramafic (Serpentine) Soils. Andover, England: Intercept.Google Scholar
Brooks, R. R. (1987). Serpentine and its Vegetation: a Multidisciplinary Approach. Portland, Oregon: Dioscorides Press.Google Scholar
Bruijnzeel, L. A. (1990). Soil moisture regime as a major factor determining vegetation structure on ultramafic soils in Palawan, the Philippines, and Sabah, Malaysia. Act. Bot. Need. 39: 402.Google Scholar
Bruijnzeel, L. A., Waterloo, M. J., Proctor, J., Kuiters, A. T. & Kotterink, B. (1993). Hydrological observations in montane rain forests on Gunung Silam, Sabah, Malaysia, with special reference to the ‘Massenerhebung’ effect. J. Ecol. 81: 145–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bureau of Mines (1989). Unpublished report on Sibuyan Island. Quezon City, Republic of the Philippines: Bureau of Mines, Geological Survey Division.Google Scholar
Lam, H. J. (1927). Een plantengeografisch Dorado. Handelingen. IV Nederlandsch-Indisch natuurwetenschappelijk congres 1926. Welteneden, pp. 386–397.Google Scholar
Pagasa (1989). Unpublished report on Romblon Province. Nagado, Quezon City, Republic of the Philippines: The Climatological Division.Google Scholar
Proctor, J. (1992). The vegetation over ultramafic rocks in the tropical far east. In: Roberts, B. A. & Proctor, J. (eds) The Ecology of Areas with Serpentinized Rocks: a World View, pp. 249–270. The Netherlands: Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Proctor, J., Van Balgooy, M. M. J., Fairweather, G. M., Nagy, L. & Reeves, R. D. (1994). A preliminary re-investigation of a plant geographical “El Dorado”. Tropical Biodiversity 2: 303–316.Google Scholar
Proctor, J., Baker, A. J. M., Van Balgooy, M. M. J., Jones, S. H., Bruijnzeel, L. A. & Madulid, D. A. (1997). Mount Bloomfield, Palawan, the Philippines: the scrub and Gymnastoma-woodland on ultramafic rocks. In: JAFFRE, T., REEVES, R. D. & BECQUER T. (eds) The Ecology of Ultramafic and Metalliferous Areas. Documents Scientifiques et Techniques, ORSTOM 3(2) (Special issue): 123–131.Google Scholar
Proctor, J., Lee, Y. F., Langley, A. M., Munro, W. R. C. & Nelson, T. (1988). Ecological studies on Gunung Silam, a small ultrabasic mountain in Sabah, Malaysia. I. Environment, forest structure and floristics. J. Ecol. 76: 320–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Proctor, J. & Woodell, S. R. J. (1975). The ecology of serpentine soils. Adv. Ecol. Res. 9: 255–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, B. A. & Proctor, J. (eds) (1992). The Ecology of Areas with Serpentinized Rocks: a World View. The Netherlands: Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, L. J. & Proctor, J. (1997). Invertebrates in the litter and soil on the ultramafic Mount Giting-Giting, Republic of the Philippines. J. Trop. Ecol. 13: 125–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitmore, T. C. (1984). Tropical Rain Forests of the Far East. Ed. 2. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar