CE SCI 1

FOREST AND WILDLIFE

 Forest
The earth’s total land area is
about 144.8 million sq.
kilometers, or about 29% of
the surface of the globe.
Forests
- areas where trees are the
dominant vegetation
- extensive tract of land
covered with trees and
undergrowth, sometimes
intermingled with open
spaces
 Forests include closed
canopy forests (leaves
and twigs of adjacent
trees touch and)
and open canopy forest and
woodlands
Closed Canopy Forest
(some leaves and twigs of
adjacent trees overlap).
About 2/3 of the forest is
classified as closed
canopy and the rest is
open canopy forest
(Cunningham and Saigo,
1995).
Open Canopy Forest
 Layers of a Forest
• Forest floor - All trees in the rain forest start their lives
here in this layer. On the damp ground, we see lots of
fallen leaves and fruits, decaying trees, and fungi. They
are food sources for many animals. They also help enrich
the soil and provide nutrition for young plants to grow.
Tapirs, termites, and scorpions are among many of the
animals that we can find here.
• Understory - Immediately above the forest floor is the
understory. The understory consists of tree trunks,
saplings, small ground plants (such as dwarf palms), and
vines. Residents here include bees, snakes, frogs, and
leopards.
• Canopy - Moving up from the understory, we are now in
the third layer, the canopy. Treetops in rain forests have
leaves so densely packed that they form a "green
blanket" in mid-air. We call this "green blanket" the
canopy. The canopy shields sunlight from reaching the
forest floor and the understory, making both layers very
shady. Most of the rain forest animals live here, including
several familiar faces - toucans, parrots, sloths, and
monkeys.
• Emergent - When we ride in a helicopter above a rain
forest, we first notice the canopy extending for miles
and miles. Then, we also notice some trees standing high
above the canopy layer. These tall trees, towering more
than 200 feet and scattered throughout the rain forest,
are emergents. They make up the highest layer of the
rain forest. Birds of paradise, eagles, and macaws all live
here.
Table 1. World Land Use (Data from World Resources
1990-1991 taken from Cunningham and Saigo, 1995)

LAND USE % TOTAL LAND AREA

Forest and woodlands 28
Pasture and grazing land 22
Arable cropland 10
Other lands (tundra, desert, 40
wetland urban)
Table 2. General Land Use in the Philippines, 1987 (taken from
DENR, 1997)

LAND USE AREA (000 ha.) PERCENTAGE OF

CATEGORY TOTAL AREA
Agriculture 9,728.80 33.0000
Forestry 19,062.60 64.0000
Settlement 131.40 0.0040
Mining and
Quarrying 8.70 0.0003
Inland Fisheries 595.70 2.0000
Open Land 11.00 0.0008
 Classifications of Forest
a. Old-growth forests – virgin forest and old second-growth
forest that have not been seriously disturbed for several
hundreds or thousand of years old, large number of
standing dead trees and fallen logs
b. Second-growth forests – stands of trees resulting from
secondary ecological succession after cutting.
About 40% of tropical forests are second-growth forests
(Miller, 1994).
Countries differ greatly in forest resources depending on the
potential of the land and climate for the tree growth and
on the history of land use and deforestation (Botkin and
Keller, 1995). Table 3 shows the distribution of forest by
continent.
 Second-Growth Forest
Old-Growth Forest
Table 3. Forested Areas if the World by Continent (Percentage of Total
World Forests, taken from Cunningham and Saigo, 1995)

CONTINENTS PERCENT OF TOTAL WORLD

FORESTS
Africa 22.6
South America 21.4
Former USSR 18.4
North America 17.7
Asia 13.2
Europe 3.5
Oceania 3.1
The total area of forest in the Philippines is 62,768 sq. km. but
only 2,250 sq. km. are protected by the government.
 The Philippines shows a diversity in forest ecosystems. The
existence of diverse natural forest formation in the
Philippines could be due to the strong influence of varying
physical and climatic factors such as soil type, rainfall and
altitude.

Classifications of Forest Types (devised by Madulid, 1994)

a. Lowland evergreen rainforest – most widespread type
found all over the country from 0 – 1000 meters above sea
level (masl); dominated by dipterocarps, palms, legumes,
and orchids.
b. Lower montane forest – found in the Central Cordillera,
Benguet, and Mt. Province at 1000 – 1500 masl; dominated
by Lithocarpus and Liliaceous species.
Lowland Evergreen Forest Lower Montane Forest
c. Upper mountain forest – found on Mt. Pulag, Mt. Apo, Mt.
Halcon, and Mt. Kitanglad at altitudes 1500 – 2400 masl.
d. Sub-alpine forest – type found at altitudes over 2400 masl.
e. Pine forest – having a pure stand of Pinus insularis and Pinus
merkussi; may be found at 1000 masl in Benguet, Central
Cordillera, Zambales, and Mindoro.
f. Forest over limestone – distinct type of vegetation found
over karst or calcareous limestone substrates; exhibits high
endemism because of specific adaptability to soil type, poor
water holding capacity, and poor nutrient availability.
Upper mountain Forest Pine Forest
g. Forest over ultrabasic soils – yield unique species highly
adapted to substrates high in minerals like chromite; their
distribution coincide with major faultlines in the Philippines
where ultrabasic soils were exuded out by past major
events of diastrophism.
h. Semi-deciduous forest – found in the eastern Sieera Madre
Range and Palawan where distinct seasonally dry climate
predominates.
i. Beach forest – a strand of vegetation composed of species
adapted to sandy soils; sand creeping plants like Ipomoea
and Cyperus spp. Are found extending seaward.
j. Mangrove/Nipa forest – mangrove and other associated
species occur as dense stands or narrow belts on shorelines
extending seaward and in months of rivers where fresh and
saltwater mix. A transition to nipa (Nypa fruticans) forest
stand is commonly found in estuarine to freshwater
conditions.
k. Freshwater swamp forest – inland to 200 masl vast swamp
lands yield successional forest formations of varying species
composition depending on the water level.
Limestone Forest Mangrove Forest
 Importance of Forest
1. Commercial Importance
- Supply lumber for housing, biomass for fuelwood, pulp for
paper,medicines, and many other products
- Forest lands are also used for mining, grazing livestock,
and recreation and are flooded to provide reservoirs for
hydropower dams and flood control
- More than half of the people in the world depend on
firewood or charcoal as their principal source of heating
and cooking fuel
 Importance of Forest
2. Ecological Importance
- Forested watersheds act as giant sponges, absorbing,
holding, and gradually releasing water that recharges springs,
streams, and aquifers
- Regulate the flow of water from mountain highlands to
croplands and urban areas
- Help control soil erosion, the severity of flooding, and the
amount of sediment washing into rivers, lakes, and artificial
reservoirs
- Play important role in the global carbon cycle and act as an
important defense against global warming.
 Importance of Forest
2. Ecological Importance
- Trees help remove carbon dioxide from the air and add
oxygen into it
- Deforestation, especially wholesale clearing and burning of
tropical forests contributes greatly to greenhouse effect
- Provides habitats for a large number of wildlife species than
any other land ecosystem
- Planets major reservoir of biological diversity
 Forest Management and
Conservation
Forest management – involves planning for sustainable
harvest, with particular attention paid to forest
regeneration (Cunningham and Saigo, 1995)

Miller Classifies Forest Management Systems into:

a. Even – aged management
- in this case, trees in a given stand are maintained at about
the same age and size, harvested all at once, and
replenished naturally or artificially so that a new even-aged
stand will grow.
Example: tree farms
 Forest Management and
Conservation
b. Uneven – aged management
- trees in a given stand are maintained at many ages and
sizes to foster continuous natural regeneration
The goals of this kind of management are:
» Biological diversity
» Long-term production of high-quality timber
» A reasonable economic return
» Multiple use of land
TREE HARVESTING METHOD
 Tree Harvesting Method
• Depends on whether uneven-aged or
even-aged forest management is being used
• Also depends on the tree species being
harvested, the nature of the site, and the
objectives and resources of the owner
 1. Selective Cutting
- Intermediate-aged or mature trees
in an uneven-aged forest are
cut singly or in small groups
- Reduces crowding, encourages
the growth of younger trees,
maintain an uneven-aged
stand with trees of different
species
- Also helps protect the site from
soil erosion and wind damage
- This is common in many tropical
forests
 2. Shelterwood Cutting
- Removal of all mature trees
in an area in a series of
cuttings, typically over a
period of 10 years
- Can be applied to even-aged
or uneven-aged stands
- This cut opens up the forest
floor to light and leaves
the best trees to cast
seed and provide shelter
for growing seedlings
 3. Seed-Tree Cutting

- Harvest nearly all the trees

on a site in one cutting,
leaving a few uniformly
distributed
seed-producing trees to
regenerate a new crop
- After new trees have
become established, the
seed trees may be
harvested
 4. Clear Cutting
- Removal of all trees from a
given area in a single
cutting to establish a
new, even-aged stand or
tree farm
- It requires much skill and
planning than other
harvesting methods
because it destroys
wildlife habitats and thus,
reduces biodiversity
 5. Strip Logging

- Alternative to clear cutting

- Alows a sustainable timber
yield from forests
without the widespread
destruction often
associated with
conventional
clear-cutting
 The Extinction of the Philippine
Forest
In years to come, the Philippine rainforest will
likely have ceased to exist, not just in
theory, but literally.

Along with the rainforest, some 3,600 species

of plants, fungi, and animals found only in
the Philippines will be gone. Among the
animals we can say farewell to:
Tarsier Flying Lemurs Cockatoo

Philippine Crocodile Green Turtle