Center for Tropical Forest Science-Arnold Arboretum Asia Program

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Sinharaja, Sri Lanka

The Sinharaja Forest Dynamics Plot is located in the Sinharaja World Heritage Site, the largest remnant of Sri Lanka's forests.  The FDP was founded in 1993 by the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan Department of Forestry, and CTFS. 

The forests of Sri Lanka display relatively low diversity but very high endemism.  For example, 70% of the 190 tree species at the Sinharaja World Heritage Site are endemic. The Sinharaja Forest Dynamics Plot contains one-half of the species in the World Heritage Site's lowland rain forests and one-quarter of all of Sri Lanka's tree species. The forest demographic work at the plot complements ongoing silvicultural and economic studies of the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Forest Department, Yale School of Forestry and the Environment, and CTFS.  Research issues at Sinharaja include silvicultural management for diverse forest products including hardwoods, forest restoration, and the biological stability of forests of low biological diversity.

CTFS-AA Asia Program, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138  · Tel: 1-617-495-1494  · Fax: 1-617-495-9484  ·  E-mail: ctfs@oeb.harvard.edu