An interspecific hybrid Jatropha curcas (Jc) × Jatropha integerrima (Ji) was developed between jatropha (Jc) from Mexico and Ji from Thailand. Jc is a large canopy plant with soft wood, while Ji is a tall plant with semi-hard wood. The F1 hybrid and their parents were grown under field conditions at a spacing of 1 m × 1.5 m. One-year-old plants were harvested and determined for biomass yield, calorific value and chemical composition of wood, as well as for heterosis (hybrid vigour) of these characters. The F1 plants gave an average fresh wood weight of 18.07 kg/plant, a moisture content of 46.56%, a dry wood weight of 9.56 kg/plant and a wood density of 0.62 g/cm3. The F1 hybrid had less ash (2.60%) than Jc (6.93%), but a higher heat value of wood (18.73 MJ/kg) than Jc (17.77 MJ/kg). Heterosis over mid-parent was very high and positive in dry wood weight, fresh wood weight and number of secondary branches at 542, 310 and 450%, respectively, while negative heterosis was found in moisture content ( − 24.86%). The desirable traits found in the F1 hybrid can be fixed by cutting propagation of the selected plants.

Miombo woodland in Zambia is divided into wetter and drier types by the 1100 mm mean rainfall isohyet. In the present study two wetter (Northern, Northwestern) and three drier (Central, Eastern, Western) miombo subtypes were recognized.

A survey of the woody flora of 94 old-growth and 58 coppice stands in the five miombo subtypes revealed some significant differences in species diversity among them. The floristic differentiantion of miombo subtypes was best achieved by the use of the Shannon species diversity index (H′) and species density (number of species 0.1 ha−1 or 0.4 ha−1). H′ in miombo decreased from 2.247 in Northwestern to 2.136 in Northern, 2.052 in Eastern, 1.918 in Central and 1.824 in Western subtypes. Although species density was not significantly different between wetter miombo subtypes, this decreased in a similar fashion from 18.78 0.1 ha−1 in Northwestern to 18.30 in Northern, 16.65 in Eastern, 14.79 in Central and 12.29 in Western subtypes. The low species diversity in Western drier miombo was attributed to the combined effects of low soil fertility and rainfall.

Although the mean number of species per 0.1 ha plot was higher in coppice samples, species richness (d) and index of diversity (H′) were lower than in old-growth samples. These results indicate lower species diversity in regenerating miombo. The dynamic aspects of species structure should therefore be considered in the future conservation of biological diversity in miombo woodland.

Succession was monitored over ten years in a 10×10m plot in forest with mor humus at 1550 m in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, following the removal in January 1975 of all aerial plant parts and some of the root material. In April 1977, August–January 1980/1 and August 1984, all woody recruits in the plot were tagged and numbered, identified and measured (height), and mapped on a 1 m grid. The height of coppice was recorded. Ten of the eleven tree species present before felling produced coppice shoots. Two individuals almost attained canopy height by 1984. Twenty tree species and three shrub species were recruited from seed; six of the tree species were normally absent from the forest. Species composition changed very little with time.

The rate of seedling recruitment was greatest immediately after clearing. The overall den-sity of individuals changed little after 1977. Overall mortality of recruits was about 10% per annum. Mortality of the earliest recruits declined with time since establishment. Later recruits and individuals with poor growth had higher mortality than other plants. Mortality was not density-dependent. Growth rates of recruits were relatively slow. Only ten individuals exceeded 4 m by 1984.

Recruitment rates, density, growth and species diversity were greatest in the parts of the plot where the mor humus had been removed or piled up during the initial clearance. Recruit-ment, growth and density were least, and mortality was greatest, at the edge. There was no relationship between any of these parameters and the presence of coppicing stumps.

Tree species showed a clear spectrum from obligate gap-demanders to obligate shade-bearers. The persistence of gap-demanding species in this forest (in which gaps are normally rare) may be due to infrequent hurricanes, and also to a natural ability to produce basal sprouts. The succession conforms to an initial floristic composition model; it is slow, and we suggest that at least 50 years will elapse before the plot begins to resemble the undisturbed forest.

The present study investigated how climate and plant size affect the growth of Bauhinia thonningii and how fire and source of regeneration (grown from coppice versus seedlings) might modify the results. The study was conducted over a period of 10 y, from 1997 to 2007, at a savanna site in central Zambia. Trees were marked and monitored throughout the entire period; they showed a phase of declining growth (1998–2003) and a phase of low growth (2004–2007). During the phase of declining growth autocorrelation was high but either weakened or disappeared during the phase of low growth. After adjusting data for autocorrelation, climate factors and tree size accounted for between 14% and 35% of the variation in annual tree radial growth. However, the growth responses of trees to climate factors and tree size varied with the source of regeneration (i.e. coppice or seedling) and fire treatment. Trees of seedling origin were only affected by climate factors and tree size when exposed to annual burning whereas all trees of coppice origin were significantly affected by climate factors and tree size, regardless of the fire treatment. However, basal radial growth of saplings that were monitored for 4 y (2003–2007) was significantly influenced by maximum temperature and rainfall that accounted for 33–47% of the variance in annual radial growth under fire protection. Saplings recovered from shoot die-back during the cool dry season by resprouting in the hot dry season and this annual die-back slowed the height growth of B. thonningii saplings.

Seed dispersal, predation, desiccation and seedling survival are strong bottlenecks that impede tropical forest recovery on abandoned agricultural lands (reviewed in Holl 2002). The ability to resprout after disturbances overcomes these barriers, as those individuals bypass the seed stage and have more vigorous shoots than seedlings (Bond & Midgley 2001, Kammesheidt 1999, Kennard et al. 2002). Resprouting is a particularly important recovery mechanism in tropical dry forests (reviewed in Vieira & Scariot 2006). There are a number of reasons why resprouting may be more important in dry forests than in rain forests, including slower decay rates of trunk bases (Ewel 1980), or adaptation of plants to drought (Bond & Midgley 2001, Sampaio et al. 1993).