Forest Environments in the Mekong River Basin

✍ Scribed by Nick A. Chappell, Mark Sherlock, Kawi Bidin, Ray Macdonald, Yani Najman, Gemma Davies (auth.), Haruo Sawada Ph. D., Makoto Araki, Nick A. Chappell Ph. D., James V. LaFrankie Ph. D., Akira Shimizu Ph. D. (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer Japan
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 322
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Deforestation and forest degradation have continued over a long period of time, and the deterioration of forest environment management services is becoming one of the biggest concerns in the world. Especially in large continental river basins, sel? sh political attitudes and individual interests in some regions predispose other regions to problems downstream and bring about international issues. The Mekong is just such a river basin and its water is the most important resource, interdependent with the forest conditions in the region. The lives of millions of people are sustained by the water of the Mekong River, and mutual understanding on water resource mana- ment is essential in this region. Consequently, appropriate environment management to control water resources is required of each country along with scienti? c knowledge of forest management, including forest hydrology. The Mekong River Commission (MRC) was established in 1995 to jointly manage shared water resources and develop the economic potential of the river by the gove- ments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. However, very limited operational forest management for water resources is being conducted based on reliable sources of information. International cooperation in science and technology has progressed in Southeast Asia. One such activity, the research project “Changes of Water Cycle in the Mekong River Basin” (CWCM), has been conducted by the Forestry Administration (FA) of Cambodia, the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI) of Japan, and several universities, since 2002.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages I-XXVIII
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Runoff Processes in Southeast Asia: Role of Soil, Regolith, and Rock Type....Pages 3-23
Impact of Land-Use Development on the Water Balance and Flow Regime of the Chi River Basin, Thailand....Pages 24-35
Evaluation of Evapotranspiration in Forested Areas in the Mekong Basin Using GIS Data Analysis....Pages 36-44
Severe Drought Resulting from Seasonal and Interannual Variability in Rainfall and Its Impact on Transpiration in a Hill Evergreen Forest in Northern Thailand....Pages 45-55
Factors Affecting Interannual Variability in Transpiration in a Tropical Seasonal Forest in Northern Thailand: Growing Season Length and Soil Drought....Pages 56-66
Scale Dependency of Hydrological Characteristics in the Upper Ping River Basin, Northern Thailand....Pages 67-74
Year-Round Observation of Evapotranspiration in an Evergreen Broadleaf Forest in Cambodia....Pages 75-86
Measurements of Wind Speed, Direction, and Vertical Profiles in an Evergreen Forest in Central Cambodia....Pages 87-96
Stomatal Response Characteristics of Dry Evergreen and Dry Deciduous Forests in Kampong Thom, Cambodia....Pages 97-111
Changes of Vertical Soil Moisture Conditions of a Dry Evergreen Forest in Kampong Thom, Cambodia....Pages 112-124
Stable Isotope Studies of Rainfall and Stream Water in Forest Watersheds in Kampong Thom, Cambodia....Pages 125-134
Runoff Characteristics and Observations on Evapotranspiration in Forest Watersheds, Central Cambodia....Pages 135-146
Front Matter....Pages 147-147
Object-Oriented Land Cover Classification Based on Two Satellite Images Obtained in One Dry Season in Cambodia....Pages 149-158
Land Cover Change Mapping of the Mekong River Basin Using NOAA Pathfinder AVHRR 8-km Land Dataset....Pages 159-167
Effect of Forest Cover Change on Sedimentation in Lam Phra Phloeng Reservoir, Northeastern Thailand....Pages 168-178
Seasonally Flooded Community Forest on the Banks of the Songkhram River: A Research Framework....Pages 179-186
Front Matter....Pages 187-187
Forest Environment of Vietnam: Features of Forest Vegetation and Soils....Pages 189-200
Principal Forest Types of Three Regions of Cambodia: Kampong Thom, Kratie, and Mondolkiri....Pages 201-213
Comparison of the Leaf Area Index (LAI) of Two Types of Dipterocarp Forest on the West Bank of the Mekong River, Cambodia....Pages 214-221
Open Woodland Patches in an Evergreen Forest of Kampong Thom, Cambodia: Correlation of Structure and Composition with Microtopography....Pages 222-231
Front Matter....Pages 187-187
Use of ASTER Optical Indices to Estimate Spatial Variation in Tropical Seasonal Forests on the West Bank of the Mekong River, Cambodia....Pages 232-240
Soils Under Different Forest Types in the Dry Evergreen Forest Zone of Cambodia: Morphology, Physicochemical Properties, and Classification....Pages 241-253
Soil Moisture Conditions in Four Types of Forests in Kampong Thom, Cambodia....Pages 254-262
Apparent Change in Soil Depth and Soil Hardness in Forest Areas in Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia....Pages 263-272
Effect of Soil Water Content on Water Storage Capacity: Comparison Between the Forested Areas in Cambodia and Japan....Pages 273-280
Influence of Large Seasonal Water Level Fluctuations and Human Impact on the Vegetation of Lake Tonle Sap, Cambodia....Pages 281-294
Back Matter....Pages 295-299

✦ Subjects

Forestry; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Plant Ecology