TY - JOUR
KW - traditional agriculture
KW - Pacific islands
KW - Micronesia
KW - low-input agriculture
KW - spatial pattern
KW - succession
KW - agroforestry
AU - W. C. Raynor
AU - J. H. Fownes
AB - A vegetation survey of 54 randomly-selected Pohnpeian land holdings quantified agroforest vegetation patterns in terms of horizontal distribution in the landscape and changes over time. Spatial distribution of species, expressed as distance from the main household, varied greatly with successional stages to produce the characteristic pattern of the Pohnpeian agroforest. Food crops, bananas, and Piper methysticum were planted around the house compound first, then gradually planted further away over time. Upland forest and secondary successional trees were removed by girdling, and gradually replaced by annual and perennial crops and breadfruit and other trees. A fallow or reduced management stage was discerned, characterized by low densities of early successional crops and higher densities of weedy secondary successional species; this stage resulted from a reduction in management intensity, mainly due to a variety of socioeconomic factors. Although the indigenous Pohnpeian agroforestry system is permanent and thought to be sustainable, it is dynamic in space and time.
AN - 93-03354
BT - Agroforestry Systems
C1 - Agroforest Syst
C6 - 0167-4366; 1572-9680
DA - 11/1991
DB - link.springer.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu
DO - 10.1007/BF00129746
IS - 2
LA - English
N2 - A vegetation survey of 54 randomly-selected Pohnpeian land holdings quantified agroforest vegetation patterns in terms of horizontal distribution in the landscape and changes over time. Spatial distribution of species, expressed as distance from the main household, varied greatly with successional stages to produce the characteristic pattern of the Pohnpeian agroforest. Food crops, bananas, and Piper methysticum were planted around the house compound first, then gradually planted further away over time. Upland forest and secondary successional trees were removed by girdling, and gradually replaced by annual and perennial crops and breadfruit and other trees. A fallow or reduced management stage was discerned, characterized by low densities of early successional crops and higher densities of weedy secondary successional species; this stage resulted from a reduction in management intensity, mainly due to a variety of socioeconomic factors. Although the indigenous Pohnpeian agroforestry system is permanent and thought to be sustainable, it is dynamic in space and time.
PY - 1991
SP - 159
EP - 165
ST - Indigenous agroforestry of Pohnpei
T2 - Agroforestry Systems
TI - Indigenous agroforestry of Pohnpei: 2. Spatial and successional vegetation patterns
UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00129746
VL - 16
ER -