Ecological Studies on the Rain Forest of Southern Nigeria: III. Secondary Succession in the Shasha Forest Reserve

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Abstract
The secondary succession on land abandoned after cultivation was studied, chiefly by means of sample plots. The observations were made in the Shasha forest reserve, Southern Nigeria, in the rain forest belt. Musanga cecropioides R. Br. became dominant. at about 2 years and remained so until it died out at about 15 years. After this no single dominant was found. At this stage the numbers of species and individuals of trees characteristic of the mature forest of the area present on the sample plot indicate that such forest will re-establish itself. This conclusion is of local application only, however, for the areas studied were on the margins of cultivated enclaves in a large forest reserve. Outside the reserve, where seed parents are absent, forest would probably not become established on abandoned cultivated land. Observations in 14-year-old and 17-year-old secondary forest show that, near ground level, the daily march of CO2 concentration resembles that in mature forests, the light intensity is similar to that in mature forest, but the temperature is rather higher and has a greater daily range than in mature forest and the minimum humidity is less.