Seedling Establishment of a Canopy Tree Species in Malaysian Tropical Rain Forests

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<jats:p><jats:bold>Abstract</jats:bold> Unlike many other canopy tree species in tropical rain forests, <jats:italic>Dryobalanops aromatica</jats:italic> (Dipterocar‐paceae, local name: Kapur) establishes monospecific dominant (monodominant) forests in Peninsular Malaysia. In natural conditions, monodominance of Kapur does not necessarily mean low species diversity of the Kapur forests. While the emergent canopy layer is occupied by Kapur, many other plant species, which are common to lowland dipterocarp primary forests in the same region, are found in lower canopy layer and understory.</jats:p><jats:p>To understand the ecological implications of the monodominance of Kapur, we monitored post dispersal survival and seedling establishment in a pure stand of Kapur in a plantation in Kepong, near Kuala Lumpur. Immediately after seed fall, seeds and cotyledon‐stage seedlings suffered high predation by vertebrates such as rodents. The predation pressure was higher in a more general fruiting year (1991) than in a sporadic fruiting year (1992). In contrast to the high mortality of seeds and newly emerged seedlings, seedlings surviving to the six‐leaf stage showed low mortality, which allowed the establishment of a sapling bank.</jats:p><jats:p>The occurrence of saplings of Kapur with a wide range of size classes in natural forests indicates that this species is more shade tolerant than other dipterocarp species such as the <jats:italic>Shorea</jats:italic> group and that it could well respond to enhanced light conditions caused by canopy opening. These characteristics may partly contribute to maintaining monodominance of Kapur.</jats:p>

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