The meathop wood and the pasoh rainforest projects

Abstract
The Meathop Wood Project involved the study of a deciduous broad-leafed forest in Lancashire and an attempt has been made to obtain an energy balance for the community and to elucidate carbon and mineral cycling. Measurements have been made of radiation, rate of photosynthesis by the major components of the forest and their productivity. The rate of litter fall, sub-divided into the various components such as eaves, bracts, branches, etc., root productivity and the death of the roots and the addition of organic matter to the soil from this source were measured. The decomposition of the soil litter was followed, and the soil populations of the animals, fungi and bacteria were examined. The mineral uptake by various plant species was followed by monitoring the incoming rain, the through-fall in its passage through the leaf canopy, the trunk-flow and run-off and the leaching of the litter and soil. The processes involved have been summarized in a general energy flow diagram for the forest. Because of the detailed work undertaken by members of the Nature Conservancy staff, much of which was begun before the I.B.P. started, it was possible with the aid of additional workers from universities and the Liverpool Technical College to fill many of the gaps in the original work. Similar but less complete studies were made jointly with the I.B.P. Committees of Japan and Malaysia on a virgin tropical lowland dipterocarp forest situated in Negri Sembilan in central Malaya.

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