Some Important Communities of Warm Temperate Rain Forest at Magamba, West Usambara, Tanganyika Territory

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Abstract
On the basis of a 10% strip survey in the Shuma-Magamba forest reserve, the ecology of the warm temperate rain forest is considered. Other terms used to designate this type of forest are "subtropical evergreen forest," "mountain rain forest," "temperate rain forest,"'' and a number of others. The altitude of the Magamba area varies from 5300 to 7600 feet. The climate is moist with a rainfall of 50-65 inches, with 2 main wet seasons, Nov. to early Jan., and March to June. Frosts are frequent in the valleys during the winter. The soils are grey-brown, yellow-brown, or dark-brown loam, with a reddish subsoil. In some they are characterized by a podsol condition, "tropical forest podsols" of Milne, and in others they are sirnilar to the "brown forest soils" of Europe. This is supposed to be due to the parent material, the "acidic" gneiss developing a podsol and the basic or neutral gneiss into brown forest soils. The forest is composed of broad-leaved evergreens, even the conifers having relatively broad leaves. The dominant trees, except for small areas of heath, swamp, and "secondary forest," are camphor. The sub-dominant and 2d story trees vary greatly from place to place. 26 communities of varying ecological rank are recognized and described. Although they are based for the most part on "ground flora" and "undergrowth" differences there are corresponding differences in dominant and co-dominant tree species and may therefore be considered as forest types. Their recognition may be helpful in forest practice.