Abstract

Kerala has approximately 4, 100 square kilometer of Moist Deciduous Forests amounting to 43.6 percent of the State's total forest area. Regeneration is heavily deficient in these forests. The project was undertaken to investigate the causes of poor regeneration in these forests with special reference to the commercially important trees. Studies on the population dynamics of the reproductive life stages of the commercially important tree species of the Moist Deciduous forests showed no abnormalities.There were no significant temporal gaps in seed source. Large quantities of flower, fruit and seed overrule the existence of any constraints in the reproductory phase of the commercially important tree species. A preliminary survey of the seedling bank had shown an average of more than 3, 000 unestablished seedlings of commercially important tree species per hectare. Studies on seedling emergence have shown that every year a population of about 10, 000 new recruits enrich the existing seedling bank. Thecontinuity of the process of sylvigenesis is interrupted, especially during conversion from seedling to sapling and sapling to pole stages. Biotic factors were found to be the main causes responsible for the paucity of regeneration in the Moist DeciduousForests. Recurring fire, grazing and browsing by goats and sheep, illicit cutting of saplings and poles, charcoal making etc. are the main reasons for the paucity of regeneration. Studies have shown that a low fire incidence frequency would be able to shift the regeneration population from regressive to a stable structure