Sundarbans is the largest, biologically richest, and most extensive mangrove forest in the world (Christensen, 1984; Seidensticker and Hai, 1983; Hussain and Karim, 1994). Heritiera fomes (Sundri) is the predominant tree species, supporting about 65% of the total merchantable timber (Chaffey et al., 1985, and Siddiqi, 2001). A unknown and serious-killer disease (top dying) of H. fomes in Sundarbans is affecting millions of the trees. An inventory by Chaffey et al., (1985) revealed that there were about 45.2 million top dying trees in the Sundarbans of which 20 million had more than 50% of their crown affected by top dying. The loss of H. fomes will have a major impact on the Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem, which leads to economic losses. The vegetation structure was assessed in terms of tree height, bole diameter, species present, and regeneration status; and the intensity of top-dying within the plots was recorded on a rank scale. Most of the elements studied had no significant correlation with the top dying of Heritiera fomes. Of the hypotheses previously put forward to explain top-dying, the present results do not support enhanced salinity as the cause. It is likely that several of the above-mentioned environmental factors interact with each other to induce top dying in Sundri. However, the present results have showed that Sn, Exchangeable K, soil pH, Pb , Zn and Ni could be directly linked with top-dying of Heritiera fomes (Sundri) in Sundarbans, probably particularly by weakening the vigour of the trees and allowing other factors such as pathological agents to attack the plants.
| Published in | American Journal of BioScience (Volume 2, Issue 4) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ajbio.20140204.14 |
| Page(s) | 135-146 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Causal Factors, Seedling and Sapling Percentage, Trees Diameter, Height, Structure, Species Density, Heritiera Fomes, Mangrove, Sundarbans, Top-Dying
| [1] | Awal, M.A. (2007). Analysis of possible environmental factors causing top-dying in mangrove forest trees in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. PhD thesis, University of Bradford. |
| [2] | Awal, M.A., Hale, W.H.G. & Stern, B. (2009). Trace element concentrations in mangrove sediments in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 58(12), 1944-1948. |
| [3] | Awal, M.A. (2014). “Correlation between the chemical composition of the surface sediment and water in the mangrove forest of the Sundarbans, Bangladesh, and the regeneration, growth and dieback of the forest trees and people health”..Journal of Science Innovation; 2014. 2(2): pp.11-21.Science Publishing Group, USA; May 20th, 2014(2):11-21;doi: 10.11648/j/si.20140202.11. |
| [4] | Banik, H. 1995. Forest Resources in Sundarbans and their Management. Sundarbans Forest Division, Khulna, Bangladesh. |
| [5] | Blasco, F. 1975. Mangroves in India. French Institute of Pondicherry. Trav. 14: 1-80. |
| [6] | Chaffey, D. R; Miller, F.R; Sandom, J. H. 1985. A forest inventory of the Sundarbans, Bangladesh, Main report, Project Report No.140, 196 pp; Overseas Development Administration, London, U.K:195-196. |
| [7] | Champion, H.A. 1936. A preliminary survey of the forest types of India & East Indian, For. Rec. (N.S.), 1: 286. |
| [8] | Chowdhury, M. I. 1984. Morphological, hydrological and ecological aspects of the Sundarbans. FAO report N0. FO: TCP/BGD/2309(Mf) W /R0027, 32 P. |
| [9] | Christensen, B. 1984. Integrated development of the Sundarbans, Bangladesh: Ecological aspects of the Sundarbans. Reported prepared for the Government of Bangladesh. FAO report no. FO: TCP/ BGD/2309(MF) W/ R0030. |
| [10] | Curtis, S.J. 1933. Working Plan for the forests of the Sundarbans Division, for the period from 1st April 1931 to 31st March, 1951, Vol.1, 175 p. Bengal government press, Calcutta, India. |
| [11] | Faizuddin, M. 2003. Research on the Top Dying of Sundri in Bangladesh: 43, Mangrove Silviculture Division, Bangladesh Forest Research Institute, Khulna, Bangldesh. |
| [12] | Government of India, 1990. Conservation of Mangroves in India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi, August, 1990. |
| [13] | Hassan, M. M.; Mazumder, A. H.; Islam, A. T. M. N. and Hossain, A.T. M. E. 1990. Soil, hydrology and salinity of Sundarbans in relation to top dying, regeneration and survival of Sundri (Heritiera fomes) trees. In: Rahaman, M. A.; Khandakar, K.; Ahmed, F.U. and Ali, M.O. (Eds.). Proceedings of the Seminar on Top Dying of Sundri (Heritiera fomes) Trees. Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, Dhaka: 1- 11. |
| [14] | Howlader, A. S. 1973. Report on the Preliminary investigation of Probable causes of Top-Dying, Regeneration and Survival of Sundri. Unpublished Report, BFRI, Chittagong, 9 pp. |
| [15] | Hussain, Z. and Karim, A. (1994). Introduction. In: Mangroves of the Sundarbans. Volume 2: Bangladesh, Z. Hussain and G. Acharya (Eds.) IUCN. Bankok, Thailand. !-18 pp. |
| [16] | Imam, S. A. 1982. The Sundarbans and its future. In: proceedings of the Second Bangladesh National Conference on Forestry, Dhaka, Bangladesh, p.19-24. |
| [17] | Khan, M. A. R. 1986. Wildlife in Bangladesh mangrove ecosystem. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 83:32-48. |
| [18] | Kostermans, A. J. G. H. 1959. A monograph of the genus Heritiera Aiton (Sterculacy) including Argyrodendron. F. V. M. and Terrietia BI. Reinwardtia 4(4): 465-83. |
| [19] | Leep, N. W., Harrison, S. C. S., and Morrell, B.G., 1995. Heavy metal contamination in soil, Environmental Geo-chemical health, 9 (1987):61. |
| [20] | Naskar, K. and Mandal, R. 1999. Ecology and Biodiversity of Indian Mangroves, Publishing House, New Delhi, India, Volume, I & II, p.21. |
| [21] | Prain, D. 1903. Flora of the Sundarban. Records of the Botanical Survey of India. Periodical Expert Book Agency, Delhi.pp.231-370. |
| [22] | Saha U. K; Rahman, A. F. M; Islam, M. S; and Khan, M. S. 1991. Optimizing fertilizer rate for mustard in calcareous dark grey flood plain soil of Bangladesh, Bangladesh. Journal of Soil Science. 22 (1 &2):14-33. |
| [23] | Salter, R. E.1984. Integrated Development of the Sundarban: Status and Utilization of Wild Life. FD: TCD/BGD/2309(MF) Report No. W/R/ oo34.FAO.9pp. |
| [24] | Seidensticker, J. Hai; A. 1983. The Sundarbans wildlife managemen plan: conservation in the Bangladesh (cited in Chaffey et al., 1985), Bangladesh. |
| [25] | Siddiqi, N. A. 2001. Mangrove Forestry in Bangladesh; Institute of Forestry and Environmental Science, University of Chittagong, Chittagong, p.201. |
| [26] | Thom, B.G.1982. Mangrove ecology- a geo-morphological perspective. 1982, p.3-17. |
| [27] | Troup, R.S. 1921. The Silviculture of Indian Trees—Volume 1. Clarendon Press, Oxford: 153-544. |
| [28] | UNESCO, 1997. Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, France, Paris. |
| [29] | WHO, 1981. Resistance of Disease vectors to pesticides. World Health Organisation, Chronicle, 35, 143. |
APA Style
Awal Mohd Abdul. (2014). Analysis of Vegetation Structure Causing Top-Dying In Mangrove Forest Trees in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. American Journal of BioScience, 2(4), 135-146. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20140204.14
ACS Style
Awal Mohd Abdul. Analysis of Vegetation Structure Causing Top-Dying In Mangrove Forest Trees in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. Am. J. BioScience 2014, 2(4), 135-146. doi: 10.11648/j.ajbio.20140204.14
AMA Style
Awal Mohd Abdul. Analysis of Vegetation Structure Causing Top-Dying In Mangrove Forest Trees in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. Am J BioScience. 2014;2(4):135-146. doi: 10.11648/j.ajbio.20140204.14
Share This Article
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Copy
Download@article{10.11648/j.ajbio.20140204.14,
author = {Awal Mohd Abdul},
title = {Analysis of Vegetation Structure Causing Top-Dying In Mangrove Forest Trees in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh},
journal = {American Journal of BioScience},
volume = {2},
number = {4},
pages = {135-146},
doi = {10.11648/j.ajbio.20140204.14},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20140204.14},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajbio.20140204.14},
abstract = {Sundarbans is the largest, biologically richest, and most extensive mangrove forest in the world (Christensen, 1984; Seidensticker and Hai, 1983; Hussain and Karim, 1994). Heritiera fomes (Sundri) is the predominant tree species, supporting about 65% of the total merchantable timber (Chaffey et al., 1985, and Siddiqi, 2001). A unknown and serious-killer disease (top dying) of H. fomes in Sundarbans is affecting millions of the trees. An inventory by Chaffey et al., (1985) revealed that there were about 45.2 million top dying trees in the Sundarbans of which 20 million had more than 50% of their crown affected by top dying. The loss of H. fomes will have a major impact on the Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem, which leads to economic losses. The vegetation structure was assessed in terms of tree height, bole diameter, species present, and regeneration status; and the intensity of top-dying within the plots was recorded on a rank scale. Most of the elements studied had no significant correlation with the top dying of Heritiera fomes. Of the hypotheses previously put forward to explain top-dying, the present results do not support enhanced salinity as the cause. It is likely that several of the above-mentioned environmental factors interact with each other to induce top dying in Sundri. However, the present results have showed that Sn, Exchangeable K, soil pH, Pb , Zn and Ni could be directly linked with top-dying of Heritiera fomes (Sundri) in Sundarbans, probably particularly by weakening the vigour of the trees and allowing other factors such as pathological agents to attack the plants.},
year = {2014}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Analysis of Vegetation Structure Causing Top-Dying In Mangrove Forest Trees in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh AU - Awal Mohd Abdul Y1 - 2014/07/20 PY - 2014 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20140204.14 DO - 10.11648/j.ajbio.20140204.14 T2 - American Journal of BioScience JF - American Journal of BioScience JO - American Journal of BioScience SP - 135 EP - 146 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-0167 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20140204.14 AB - Sundarbans is the largest, biologically richest, and most extensive mangrove forest in the world (Christensen, 1984; Seidensticker and Hai, 1983; Hussain and Karim, 1994). Heritiera fomes (Sundri) is the predominant tree species, supporting about 65% of the total merchantable timber (Chaffey et al., 1985, and Siddiqi, 2001). A unknown and serious-killer disease (top dying) of H. fomes in Sundarbans is affecting millions of the trees. An inventory by Chaffey et al., (1985) revealed that there were about 45.2 million top dying trees in the Sundarbans of which 20 million had more than 50% of their crown affected by top dying. The loss of H. fomes will have a major impact on the Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem, which leads to economic losses. The vegetation structure was assessed in terms of tree height, bole diameter, species present, and regeneration status; and the intensity of top-dying within the plots was recorded on a rank scale. Most of the elements studied had no significant correlation with the top dying of Heritiera fomes. Of the hypotheses previously put forward to explain top-dying, the present results do not support enhanced salinity as the cause. It is likely that several of the above-mentioned environmental factors interact with each other to induce top dying in Sundri. However, the present results have showed that Sn, Exchangeable K, soil pH, Pb , Zn and Ni could be directly linked with top-dying of Heritiera fomes (Sundri) in Sundarbans, probably particularly by weakening the vigour of the trees and allowing other factors such as pathological agents to attack the plants. VL - 2 IS - 4 ER -
Email: