All the apes, birds and other animals of the Sabangau ultimately rely on the forest habitat to provide food and shelter. Therefore studies of the productivity, growth and regeneration processes of the forest are extremely important. We maintain six permanent forest plots totalling 2.4 hectares in area in the mixed swamp forest sub-type, in which over 2500 trees, lianas and figs greater than 6 cm in diameter are tagged and identified, and monitored monthly for fruit and flower production. Long-term data from these plots provide information on tree growth and mortality rates, amount of litterfall and changes in forest biomass. Twenty-four further plots of total area 3.75 ha have been set up in areas of selectively-logged forest, clear-felled forest, fire-burnt forest and primary forest in order to examine regeneration processes, seedling and sapling survival rates, successional stages and the diversity of the regenerating stand.

Current research

The Tropical Peatland forest is a relatively unstudied ecosystem. The forest in the Sebangau has been subject to both anthropogenic disturbance and natural stochastic events over the past 30 years. The Forest Dynamics Team's main research goal is to try and understand some of the processes occurring in the forest at present, and use this data to predict future events. The team are collecting plant samples, as well as undertaking regeneration and phenology studies to try and further our understanding of this ecosystem.

Herbarium
The OuTrop research team is fortunate to work closely with the Darwin Herbarium and its chief botanist Ms. Erna Shinta. There is a growing collection of plant specimens within the Herbarium, and good progress on establishing a tree species list for the three main forest habitats has been made. Identiying tree species is a critcal component of understanding forest dynamics.

Regeneration studies

The objective of this study is to understand how varying levels of disturbance effect the mixed peat swamp forest. The the level of damage occurred will be quantified and recovery documented.

Methods

In the mixed peat swamp forest habitat transects have been established to look at forest structure, composition and sapling density.

Plots area located over areas of disturbance specifically looking at timber removal logging skids, canals, railways and staging areas.

Plots are also locate in the Mega Rice area, where forested areas have been subject to fires looking specifically at area that have been burnt once, several times (pre and post fires) and cleared to create a fire break in the 2002 fires.

Some of these areas have been studied since 1999, with the majority having been established in 2001, and enumerated at least every two year.

Phenology studies

This study is run in conjunction with the Behavioural team, to establish vital baseline date in the fruiting and flowering patterns of tree species found in the Mixed Swamp habitat, in turn looking at potential seed dispersal patterns.

Methods

7 transects have been established at regular increments from the Sungai Sebangau, the number of tree enumerated, measure and identified is now number over 2500. The phenological activity of each tree is measure every month; we now have over 15 months worth of data.

We have also begun pilot studies to look further at dispersal syndromes for certain trees species, in particular orang-utan food preference trees.

Nursery Studies.

In 2005 a permenant nursery was established in the field site to begin to study the natural growth rates of the species found in the Natural Laboratory, this is the first study of its kind in peat swamp forest.