Forest fire and vegetation changes in tropical seasonal forests in Thailand.

利用森林火灾产生的木炭和蛋白石植物岩对泰国热带季节性森林的植被变化进行了研究。泰国至少在一万年前就发生过森林火灾。火灾发生的频率似乎对森林植被产生了影响：频繁的火灾诱发落叶双子叶林，落叶双子叶林被混交林取代，然后被常绿林取代，森林火灾减少。与目前的分布相比，认为热带季节性森林向低纬度地区分布。本研究中使用的蛋白石植物岩分析对研究过去植被变化具有重要意义。

Vegetation changes of tropical seasonal forests in Thailand was investigated using wood charcoal produced by forest fire and opal phytoliths. Forest fire occurred in Thailand at least 10000 years ago. The frequency of fire seemed to affect the forest vegetation: frequent fire induced deciduous dipterocarp forests, which were replaced with mixed deciduous forests, and then with evergreen forests with decreasing forest fire. Tropical seasonal forests were considered to be distributed to lower latitude area compared to the present distribution. Opal phytolith analysis used in this study was useful in studying past vegetation changes.