The Vegetation and Physiography of Sumatra: Maps

Front Cover
Springer Science & Business Media, Feb 28, 1997 - Nature - 222 pages
Fifteen years ago, approximately half the world population was estimated to live in continental and insular South-East Asia (Burma, Thailand, Kampuchea, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, Philippines). Then the region had a population growth of four million people every month, and the problem of malnutrition was acute for the rural population. International agricultural development organisations decided that their primary aim would be to double existing levels of agricultural production and, taking account of population growth, to double it again by the end of the century (Whyte 1976). Today, while global issues have greatly affected the parameters of the problem, the situation remains both serious and difficult. Despite impressive efforts in education and health, Indonesia for example, where population (179 millions) growth eased off only slightly between 1980 and 1990 (from 2. 3 percent to 1. 9 percent), is having to cope with increasing difficulties in managing natural resources and particularly its evanescent forest assets which, until 1986, were the second largest source of national revenue. Indonesia has the second largest surface area of tropical rain forests in the world (after Brazil) and thus all the problems linked with management and disappearance of those forests. The latest estimate gives a figure of 109 million hectares of forest in 1990, of which 40. 8 million hectares are production forests (Anon. -F AO 1990).

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Contents

Methodology
4
Method used for vegetation classification and analysis during the present survey
11
Physical environment and physiographic classification of the vegetation
19
Bioclimates
27
Rainfall patterns in Sumatra
27
Physiographic classification of the vegetation
35
History of the vegetation and phytogeography
41
Phytogeography of Malesia
44
The physical environment Geomorphology topography
101
Primary forests
103
Plant formations on medium altitude nonkarst hill zones 450800 m
108
Plant formations on karst hills Location extent and forest status
113
Mountain forests
124
The physical environment
124
Submontane forests 8001400 m
124
Montane forests 14001900m
132

Phytogeography of Sumatra
47
Vegetation and forest types
53
Plant formations in lowland swamp areas alt 15 m
54
Fresh water swamp formations on alluvium
54
Peat swamp environments
55
Plant formations of the plains and piedmonts drained soils at low elevation 150m
68
The physical environment
71
Primary formations
74
Secondary types
98
Hillside formations
100
Tropical subalpine forests 2500 m
135
Main agroforest types and structure
140
Floristics
141
Conclusions and perspectives
144
References
147
SPECIES INDEX
159
Maps used for the present vegetation study
171
Legend and planimetry of the vegetation map of Sumatra correspondance between the three sheets numbering used
172
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