Keystone Species and their role in an Eco-System

All species play a role within an ecosystem as, (i) Primary producers (ii) Primary consumers (iii) Predators, and (iv) Decomposers. Primary producers absorb energy from the environment mainly from sun light an inorganic substances CO2 and H2O, produce Organic molecules such as C6H12O6 in their living cells which contain pigments. The primary consumers feed on them, they are herbivores. the Predators consume flesh meet on herbivores. Decomposers decompose dead organic materials in to inorganic particles and contribute for the material cycle. For many species the role is not unique. But some species play a unique & important role in ecosystem function & their removal results changes in that system.Key Stone species is a species which affects the survival and abundance of many other species in the community in which it lives. The removal of such species can have a profound effect on the ecosystem in which they live, and sometimes even on the physical structure of the environment. And often the importance of these species is not evident until they disappear. Keystone species are less abundant, but they exert strong effects on the community they inhabit. There are Four types of Key Stone Species, (i)Organisms Controlling Dominants (ii)Resource Providers (iii)Keystone Mutualists (iv)Ecosystem Engineers.Organisms Controlling Dominants Promote coexistence by reducing competition among other species for limiting resources in an Eco-system. Best examples are Predators which control the herbivores population and Herbivores which controls the plant composition. Resource Providers Provide continuous reliable source of food for many kinds of creatures. If it is removed unable to bridge the gap of supply. The best example is Fig tree. Mutualism is an interaction between 2 organisms. Both are inter dependent. They depend for Pollination (plants & animals) & Dispersal (plants & animals). If It fails it can be led to Reproductive failures, Loss of genetic diversity, Change in plant and animal population dynamics, Local extinctions without replacement, Loss of animal species reliant on fruits and seeds, Long terms species loss (trees). Ecosystem engineers are keystone species who physically modifies habitats. Best example is Elephants which maintain grasslands. Most exotic invasive species are ecosystem engineers in their invaded locations.Loss of a Key Stone Species Can create a series of linked extinction events known as an extinction cascade. Returning the keystone species to the community may not necessarily restore the community, if other component species & physical environment have already lost.

Implementation of CDM in Sri Lanka

Among the many benefits that forests provide, there is growing appreciation of their role as major storage of carbon. Growing trees, through the process of photosynthesis, absorb carbon dioxide, storing vast amounts of carbon in their wood. Rising CO2 levels over the past century are held responsible for global warming. Forests contain some 80% of all the carbon stored in land vegetation, and about 40% of the carbon residing in soils worldwide. Deforestation is a major source of greenhouse gases such as CO2 which is about 20% of total emissions. The 1997-1998 fires in Indonesia alone were shown to have contributed up to 40% of the annual emissions from anthropogenic fossil-fuel combustion. Further deforestation will accelerate the problems of rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations that are caused by the burning of fossil fuels.The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was created as part of the Kyoto protocol to achieve the dual objective of lowering global greenhouse gas emissions at the lowest overall cost while supporting sustainable development initiatives within developing countries. It is based on the notion that it is much cheaper to achieve the same measure of carbon reduction in a developing country than in an industrialized country.The CDM allows Annex I Parties (those required to reduce emissions) to implement projects that reduce emissions in the territory of a non-Annex I Party (those with additional emission rights). The certified reduction units (CERs) generated by such projects can be used by Annex I Parties to help meet their emissions targets while the projects also help non-Annex I Parties to achieve sustainable development. The CDM is expected to generate investment in developing countries, especially from the private sector, and promote the transfer of environmentally-friendly technologies in that direction.In addition to energy projects, such as saving energy, developing alternative energy sources and active removal and storage of greenhouse gases, land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) activities were recognized as relatively cost-effective way of combating climate change. This is accomplished either by increasing the removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere (e.g. by planting trees or managing forests), or by reducing emissions.Sri Lanka became a party of Kyoto protocol in 1994. As 76% of the population in Sri Lanka lives in the rural areas where the main activity is agriculture it has a good potential for CDM projects. Energy, Transport and Forestry are the main aimed areas in Sri Lanka. Lack of Financial Support, Lack of access to new information, Fear of adopting new technologies, Unwillingness to take any risk in purchasing new technologies, People’s protests or reluctance to accept new, energy-saving technologies, lack of information on the effectiveness, running cost, operational phase and after sales service, lack of training, Economic and political constraints, New policies that flavor cleaner technologies and ban polluting, Cultural influences are the main constrains to implement CDM projects in Sri Lanka.

Marketing Plan for Wooden Products (Eucalyptus)

Thilina Suranga Jayarathne

Organizations spends vast amount of resources to conduct research and gather marketing intelligence to prepare excellent marketing plans. A sensible method to conduct business would to be having a detailed marketing plan which will identify a range of options to achieve the objectives. A well laid out marketing plan will not only enable the organization to beat its competitors but also would be able to gain competitive edge over the competitors. A marketing plan defined as a logical sequence and a series of activities leading to the settings of objectives and formulation of plans for achieving them.
The benefits of carrying a marketing plan is Identification of potential market, Setting objectives for the growth of the organization, Mitigate threats from competitors, Identify resources of competitive advantage and Identify the forces of the changing environment. All of this we can summarize and say that organizations plan to survive the changing needs of the market place. Most firms today monitor the environmental factors and then figures out the best method to overcome threats and exploit opportunities. Confusion between the marketing strategy and marketing tactics, Isolation of marketing functions from operations, Confusion between the
marketing function and the marketing concept, Organizational barriers, Confusion between process and output, Lack of knowledge and skills and Hostile corporate culture are some of the barriers for to implement a good marketing plan.
There are several steps to prepare a good management plan. They are i) Marketing audit (where are we now?), ii) Marketing objectives(where do we want to go?), iii) Marketing strategy(how do we get there?), iv) Marketing activities, forecasting and budgeting(how do we ensure arrival). Here the Nuwara-Eliya plantation company is going to introduce a new wooden tile in to the market branded as “LEEtaa”. There objective is to convert the whole final harvest in to a wooden tile. As they have 1290 ha of Eucalyptus, the timber supply will not be a problem. The company is going to recover the capital cost within four rotations (80 years) and to have a 10% profit from the production cost. The marketing plan has calculated all the expected cost and the price of a tile will be Rs. 210.45. It will be a competitive price in the market. But some figures I have been used are completely hypothetical. So we have to do a proper market survey and obtained the actual figures before implementing it.

Preparation of a Management Plan for Small Scale Teak Plantations

K M T S Jayarathne and S M C U P Subasinghe
Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka

Teak (Tectona gradis) is one of the most valuable timber species in the tropics. It is introduced to Sri Lanka in 1680 by Dutch. At present 45,336.9 ha of teak plantations are maintained by the Sri Lanka Forest Department as homogeneous plantations in dry and intermediate zones. Other than that teak is grown as mixtures with Jak, Margosa, Eucalyptus and Mahogany. The popular methods of establishing teak plantations were Taungya System and PFPs (Participatory Forestry Projects). Teak is maintained as State owned lands, Private lands or Farmers woodlots.

Teak Plantations in Sri Lanka are maintained for productive purposes. Therefore the costs and benefits must be considered economically and ecologically before drawing up proper management plans, especially for the small scale plantations. The yield from properly managed plantations is obtained not only from the final felling but also from silvicultural operations which are applied at regular intervals. In order to manipulate those activities and to maximize the income with minimum environmental impacts comprehensive management plans are required.

With the above considerations, the present study was designed to achieve the following objectives; (i) to identify the maximum extent of a small scale plantation; (ii) to prepare a comprehensive working plan for a selected plantation; (iii) to identify the environmental damages and possible conservation methods in small scale teak plantation management and (iv) to prepare cost and income values at intermediate and final harvestings.

The selected land (12.5 ha) for the present study was initially owned by Rambapokuna Temple in Rambapokuna village in Kurunegala district (309 Kandegedara GN division, Nikaweratiya DS division). It was acquired by the Forest Department in 1999 and given 0.4 ha to each farmer under 25 years lease agreement. The particular block which was used for the data collection was owned by Mrs. W.A. Karunawathi (policy no RP/FW/30/99).

As the plantation is homogeneous the Transect Sampling Technique was applied to collect the necessary data. A transect was demarcated along the diagonal of the land and 0.02 circular plots were demarcated with 5 m intervals. Total height and dbh of the trees were measured from total 04 plots (42 stems) to calculate the basal area and volume.

When the result were analyzed, it was identified that the distribution of dbh is approximately normal. The average tree dbh, height and volume are 11.22 cm, 8.80 m and 0.051 m3 respectively. Pre-commercial thinning has already been done in 2007 without a scientific study. When compared with Provisional Yield Tables published by Forest Department, this site belongs to “height class III”.

The currant volume of the plantation was projected to the future using the appropriate yield table to calculate the income and cost by time series analysis. It is estimated that 48.895m3 of total timber volume which can produce the income of Rs. 3,094,799.00 (assuming 75% timber recovery in harvesting) during the thinnings and final felling which are to be done in 2014, 2024, 2034 and 2049. The total cost of extraction and replanting was estimated as Rs 636,021.08 for the particular teak block. It is calculated that the Net Present Value (NPV) of the total income and total cost will be Rs 162,528.60 assuming the present discount rate of Sri Lanka is 10%.

The above calculations were based only on use values of the plantation. However it is recommended to consider the non-use values such as soil protection, CO2 absorption, O2 emission, climate regulation etc, using an appropriate method. The currant management plan was prepared only for 0.4 ha because of the time and capital constrains. It is strongly recommended to extrapolate this study to different site types covering a vast area of the country in order to obtain the most accurate results so that a precise management plan can be drawn. Otherwise the management guidelines will be less effective.