Monitoring the survival and growth of newly planted young plants of native trees

To improve forest restoration results at MBG’s conservation sites, we monitor the outcomes of our work to plant young plants of native tree species on degraded land.
Information on species’ survival and growth under specific conditions can help to improve future endeavours of this type at the site but also elsewhere in Madagascar.
In 2018 we conceived a pragmatic, standard monitoring protocol that was trialled at four of the sites where MBG supports conservation projects: The Ankafobe Forest, the Analalava Forest, the Pointe à Larrée Peninsula, and the Oronjia Forest.

This protocol can be summarized as follows :

1. Monitoring is carried out in "restoration units" which are defined as areas with largely similar vegetation + topography + aspect + type of treatment (e.g. removal of competitive ferns).

2. At the time of planting in each "restoration unit", the number of individuals planted of each species are recorded together with the date of plantation.

3. A minimum of 20 randomly-selected seedlings of each species planted in each “restoration unit” are selected and tagged with unique codes. Exceptionally, when the number of individuals for a species in a restoration unit is less than 20, then all the individuals of that species are monitored.

4. The vertical height of each monitored individual is measured at planting time (T0) and, 12 months later (T1), their condition (dead or alive) and the new vertical height is measured again.
The vertical height of the young plant is measured from the soil to the plant’s highest growth point.

The raw data sheets from this monitoring are available here :

   Analalava Restauration forestiere
   Ankafobe Restauration forestiere
   Oronjia Restauration forestiere
   Pointe à Larrée Restauration forestiere