Abstract Detail

4D Botany of the Anthropogenic Environment

Mendoza, Martin Alfonso [1], Negreros-Castillo, Patricia [2], Navarro-Martínez, Angélica [3], Mize, Carl W [4], Cámara Cabrales, Luisa [5].

Creating silviculture systems for tropical forests in Mexico.

Silviculture is the art, science and practice of controlling the establishment, composition, health, quality and growth of forests to accomplish a set of management objectives. Numerous scientific studies have been carried out to understand tropical forest ecology in Mexico, including regeneration mechanisms, growth rates and silviculture methods. This presentation presents three approaches to tropical silviculture in Mexico. I) Plan Costa de Jalisco (PCJ) is an alternative response to traditional tropical timber management as practiced in most parts of the world, including the Yucatan Peninsula. After 35 years of successful practice, PCJ has improved over traditional management because it does not rely on minimum diameter cutting, or limits to harvest removals, or re-entry cylce. Instead, PCJ operates by group selection cuts, some of them as large as two hectares. II) MIZE (Integrated method of ecological zonification), considers three basic tools proposed to manage the natural forests in the Yucatan Peninsula: 1) Slash & Burn shifting agriculture (S & BA). Apply S & BA as a silvicultural system to establish valuables species, including mahogany; 2) Stand replacement, efficiently harvest all available products while opening space to develop a new even-aged stand containing the species mix characteristic of the region with a preponderance of desired species; and 3) tending, apply all intermediate treatments (thinning, spacing, sanity, enrichment, etc.) needed to develop the type of stand desired. III) Método Silvícola Peninsular (MSP), adapted PCJ to mahogany forests from Yucatan Peninsula by enlarging harvest openings enough to allow corn production in a fashion similar to S & BA. Since rotation delays in mahogany forests are usually large, these were adopted as a harvest regulation scheme. Allocation of cutting areas and stand replacement treatments in MSP follow a Taboo search algorithm driven by simulated forecasts of stand development from a silvicultural simulation model. This model is designed as a production function that complies with economic theory, such as diminishing returns to scale. Financial performance of land value is the main criterion to select a recommended management plan. MIZE and MSP connect forest theory and regulatory frameworks with a traditional culture of land use, such as Maya style S & BA is expected to facilitate the willingness of ethnic Maya communities to participate in commercial timber production. A secondary expected outcome is a firmer handling of timberlands when treated as part of the household endowment in these traditional communities.

1 - Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus Veracruz, Km 36.5 Carretera Mexico Texcoco, Montecillo, Texcoco, Mexico, 56230, Mexico
2 - Academia Nacional de Ciencias Forestales, Forestry, Santos Degollado #81-5, Xalapa, Outside US/Canada/Australia/France/Germany, 91000, Mexico
3 - Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Av. Centenario Km 5.5., Chetumal, Quintana Roo, 77900, Mexico
4 - Academia Nacional de Ciencias Forestales AC, Mexico, CDMX, Mexico
5 - Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, Av. Universidad s/n, Col. Magisterial, Villahermosa, Tabasco, 86040, Mexico

Keywords:
slash and burn
Salsh and burn and tropical silviculture
Maya
community forestry.

Presentation Type: Symposium Presentation
Session: SY1, 4D Botany of the Anthropogenic Environment
Location: Sundance 3/Omni Hotel
Date: Monday, June 26th, 2017
Time: 10:30 AM
Number: SY1006
Abstract ID:489
Candidate for Awards:None