TREE SPECIES-DIVERSITY IN COMMERCIALLY LOGGED BORNEAN RAIN-FOREST

The effects of commercial Logging on tree diversity in tropical rainfo rest are Largely unknown. In this study, selectively logged tropical r ainforest in Indonesian Borneo is shown to contain high tree species r ichness, despite severe structural damage. Plots logged 8 years before sampling contained fewer species of trees greater than 20 centimeters in diameter than did similar-sized unlogged plots. However, in sample s of the same numbers of trees (requiring a 50 percent Larger area), L ogged forest contained as many tree species as unlogged forest. These findings warrant reassessment of the conservation potential of large t racts of commercially Logged tropical rainforest.