Vegetation and Vascular Plant Flora of Doi Sutep–Pui National Park, Northern Thailand. by J.F. Maxwell & S. Elliott

2 Pages·2002·0.05 MB·English

by  Rundel, Philip W

Reviews
NAT. HIST. BULL. SIAM Soc. 50(1): 117-118，2 002
，
Vegetation and Vascular Plant Flora of Doi Sutep-Pui National ParkNorthern
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Thailandby J. F. Maxwell and S. EIli'Ot. 2001. T.加iStudies in Biodiversity (Bangk'Ok)
N'O.5: 1一泊5.$10.00. S'Oft c'Over 300 baht; 'Overseas price US 10.00 +p 'Ostage; available
fぬmBIOτ'EC，N SτDA，e- mail kam'Olwanla>bi'Otec.'Or.th.
Nati'Onal parks and 'Other c'Onservati'On釘easfrequently suffer fr'Om al ack 'Ofk n'Owledge
ab'Out the bi'Odiversity c'Ontained wi白血theirb'Oundaries.百lIsproblem is due泊 p制 t'Othe
lack fc llectins，bu t als tthe lack fb rad and intensive taxnmic wrk nt hse
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c'Ollecti'Ons 白紙 d'Oexist. F'Or由isreas'On，f' Orest scientists，ec 'Ol'Ogists，re s'Ource m叩 agers，
wildlife bilgists and thers will all welcme the publicatin f isnew vlume in e
'O'O 'O 'O 'O 'O 血 'O 血
series T加，iStudies in Biodiversi砂.
DiS utep-PuiN atinal Park eauthrs prefer isspellg ver em re cmmn
'O 'O (出 'O 血 泊 'O 血 'O 'O 'O
DiS uthep)，l cated nrthem landwest f ecity fC hiang Mai，ha s had al ng
'O 'O 泊 'O 百凶 'O血 'O 'O
hist'Ory 'Ofs ignificance泊 thehist'Ory 'OfT hai b'Otany. Al出oughn'Otde cl紅'edan ati'Onal park
until 1981，a nd heavily degraded by human activities泊 manyareas，t he remarkable
bi'Odiversity 'Of白isarea has drawn b'Otanists f'Ora c en制ry.A t'Otal 'Of2 247 taxa 'Ofv ascular
plants cllected epark eenumerated isvlume，a r emarkable level fd iversity
'O 泊血 釘 泊白 'O 'O
cnsidering .erelatively limited elevatinal rgepresent and strongly seasnal rainfall
'O 血 'O 叩 'O
regime. Thep ark extends合om350 m t'O the twin peaks 'OfD 'OiS utep組 dD'OiP ui，wh ich
reach 1610，an d 1685 m，re spectively. Mean annual rainfall extends frm abut 1100 mm
'O 'O
(1068 mmat nearby Chiang Mai) t1670 mmat the park headquarters at 1050 m elevatin
'O 'O
and 2095 mma t Puping Village at 1375 m elevatin.
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ev lume is divided intfive pts. lefirst ft hese by J. F. Maxwell presents a
Th 'O 'O 訂 百 'O
reassessment 'Oft he f'Orest types 'OfT hailand.百liss田ti'Onpr'Ovides釦 in-depthreview and
critique 'Ofth e c'Omplex hist'Ory 'Ofte mtin'Ol'Ogy and classificati'Ons ys旬msused t'O characterize
f'Orest vegetati'On泊 τ'hailand.Implicit in this discussi'Oni s the pr'Oblem 'Ord ich'Ot'Omy泊
having ab road reginal system fc lassificatin atis relatively imprecise in any sgle
'O 'O 'O 白 泊
eaversus ad etailed classificatins ystem wrkswell lcally but canntb e applied
紅 'O 白紙 'O 'O 'O
reginally. sat issue 'ethe problems presented frf rest classificatinw hen human
'O Al'O 訂 'O 'O 'O
activities have str'Ongly impacted f'Orest 蹴 uctureand c'Omp'Ositi'On. Maxwell c'Onsiders all
ft hese issues ce lly dthen describes an ew system atwill surely be cntrversial
'O 紅 白 佃 出 'O 'O
tmany eclgists. He bases his system heavily nf rest structure and evergreen versus
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deciduus dminance，w ith elevatin and flristic cmpsitin given am uch smaller
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sec'Ondary r'Ole. He limits the use 'Of“ rain f'Orest" t'O紅'easlacking in a合yse部'Onand出us
entirely absent frm ailand. Instead，he suggests eterm“evergreenfrest" be used
'O Th 血創出 'O
t'O subsume ab r'Oad range 'Ofe vergreen f'Orest types仕oml'Owland evergreen f'Orest 血rough
hill evergreen frests，wi th subtypes frth e presence fb amb rpi nes. It is islumping
'O 'O 'O 'O'O 'O 白
that many will find difficult taccept particularly frt he mntane frests abve 1000 m
'O 'O 'O 'O 'O
elevatin. Deciduus frests esep asdeciduus diptercarp frest (wi akand
'O 'O 'O 紅 紅創刊 'O 'O 'O 出'O
with rw ithut pine) and mixed deciduus frest with rw ithut bamb is separated ut
'O 'O 'O 'O 'O 'O 'O'O 'O
as ad istinct f'Orest type intermediate between evergreei1 and decidu'Ous f'Orest c'Ommunities.
Part n ft he vlume prvides an verview ft he vegetatina nd life frm diversity
'O 'O 'O 'O 'O 'O 'O
'Ofp凶 ts泊 D'OiSutep-Pui，as well as ah ist'Ory 'Ofb 'O旬国calexpl'Orati'Ona nd c'Ollecting in
thep It is ntewrthy 512vascular plant species have been described as new frm
紅k. 'O 'O 白紙 'O
cllectins made isP lisnumber dwarfs fr y ther single site ail d.
'O 'O 泊血 釘k.百 白紙 'O釦 'O 泊Th 釦
117
118 REVIEWS
Part m makes up nearly half of the volume and is given over to an annotated table
of the species in Doi SutepーPuiNational Park. An extremely valuable set of information
is provided on each species including habit，ph enology，li fe mode (i.e. epiphytic，te π'es凶al，
parasitic，aq uatic，et c.)，re lative abundance，ha bitat，an d months of flowering，fr uiting，a nd
leaf loss. These data will undoubtedly provide ar ich vein of information for ecologists to
mme.
The arr gementof families is by the Bentham and Hooker system. The species lists
加
generally follow accounts in the Flora of Thailand for those families which have already
been published. For those families血athave not yet been treated，th e authors have followed
other monographic work or血eirown judgment. In some cases the taxonomy of species
included deviates slightly企omthe Flora of Thailand account when the authors have
judged that there has been am istake.百lIsapproach is to be commended. For example，it
was always am ystery why Grewia acuminata was placed in synonymy with G. laevigata
in the Flora of Thailand. The former has been resurrected here.
Some of the family limits'presented 'econservative. For instance，Bu ddleja is placed
紅
in the Loganiaceae，ev en though it is not included there in the published Flora ofThailand
account. Viscum is placed in the Loranthaceae，al though it is mentioned that the Viscaceae
may be recognized. In several cases recent realignments of family boundaries based on
molecular phylogenies紅enot used or considered ωor adically different仕omthe Flora of
Thailand to be appropriate. An example is the broadened concept of the Malvaceae
encompassing白eTi1iaceae，S terculiaceae and Bombacaeae.
Thec losing Part IV of the volume by Stephen Elliot discusses themes of exploitation
and conservation. Aided by as eries of color photographs，El liot discusses threats to the
park from deforestation，h uman population pressure，an d fire，an d the impacts these threats
have on plant biodiversity bo血directlyand indirectly through losses of animal populations
critical for pollin矧onand seed dispersal. He closes with ad iscussion of ongoing reforestation
efforts and management recommendations.
In summy，this volume is well written and nicely produced. It should be ap tof
訂 釘
the library of anyone with serious interests in the plant biodiversity，fl oristics，or vegetation
strucωre of Thailand and Southeast Asia. Av ery reasonable price adds to its attractiveness.
Beyond the value of出isbook as af loristic database，it is ar eminder of the paucity of
published floristic information on most other national parks and reserves in Thailand.
Philip W. Rundel
Department of Organismic Biology，E cology and Evolution
University of California
Los Angeles，Ca lifornia 90095，U SA
David Middleton
Harvard University Herbaria
22 Divinity Av enue
Cambridge，M assachusetts 02138，U SA