EFFECT OF HERBIVORY ON SEEDLING ESTABLISHMENT OF <em>DRYOBALANOPS</em> <em>AROMATICA</em> (DIPTEROCARPACEAE) UNDER PLANTATION FOREST IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

Abstract

Post-dispersal survival of kapur (Dryobalanops aromatica) was monitored in a 60-year-old kapur plantation and a mixed-species plantation at Kepong, Peninsular Malaysia. Kapur seeds showed no dormancy and germination started within 1-3 days after being placed on the forest floor. In both plantations, seeds and cotyledonstage seedlings were consumed by vertebrates such as rodents and wild pigs. On average, less than 1 % of the seeds survived to the four-leaf seedling stage. After reaching the four-leaf stage, predation appeared to be reduced, but seedling mortality probably caused by water stress and/or pathogens increased. Seedlings in the sixleaf stage had low mortality, allowing the establishment of a sapling bank under the canopy. The results indicate that natural regeneration of kapur in plantations may be expected when sufficient seeds produced during mast years compensate for the high mortality during the seed and early seedling stage.