Jaeeun Sohng
Sri Lanka has a well-documented land-use history, with a broad spectrum of land-use types, including intact forest, working tea plantations, and abandoned tea plantations that have reverted to either Kekila fernland (Dicranopteris linearis) or converted to Pinus caribbea plantations.
Caribbean pine (Pinus caribbea, Pinaceae) is an important plantation species for reforestation and used for its timber, pulp, and resin. It is resilient to fire and effective at soil stabilization. It has been planted beyond its original habitat to reforest cleared and open lands that were formerly tropical forests throughout Asia and Latin America.
My research aims to identify the effects of Caribbean pine plantation on soil carbon flux compared to primary forests, tea plantations, and abandoned tealands that have reverted to fire dependent Kekila fernland, within the Sinharaja Rain Forest Reserve and its adjacent buffer zone.
