Range Forest Officer recruitment (state exams) · India · State Public Service Commissions and state forest departments (e.g. MPPSC, UKPSC, UPPSC)
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersThe planned sequences of regeneration felling and tending that produce a forest of a particular form: clear felling, shelterwood, selection, coppice and their variants and conversions.
In the exams: IFoS Forestry Paper I Section A (clear felling, uniform shelterwood, selection, coppice and conversion systems); ICAR AICE-JRF 59 Unit 2 (high forest and coppice systems); SAF Certified Forester (silviculture)
How our questions for Range Forest Officer recruitment spread across the units of Silvicultural Systems. Difficulty: 18 easy, 4 medium, 0 hard.
| Uniform and group shelterwood systems | 3 | |
| Selection system and group selection | 3 | |
| Simple coppice, coppice with standards, pollarding | 3 | |
| Classification of silvicultural systems | 2 | |
| Clear-felling system and its variants | 2 | |
| Irregular shelterwood and strip systems | 2 | |
| Accessory systems: two-storied high forest, conversion | 2 | |
| Conversion between systems | 2 | |
| Choice of system by species, site and objectives | 2 | |
| Silviculture of temperate, subtropical, humid tropical and dry tropical forests | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
In Troup's sense, what is a silvicultural system?
B. The planned process of tending, removing and replacing crops that gives a forest a distinctive form
Troup defined a silvicultural system as the process by which crops are tended, removed and replaced, producing woods of a distinctive form. Nursery practice, yield calculation and legal status are separate subjects (nursery, yield regulation and forest law).
Further reading: Troup, Silvicultural Systems (2nd ed., 1952); Matthews, Silvicultural Systems (1989); Nyland et al., Silviculture (3rd ed., 2016)
The regeneration period of an area is the time from:
C. The first regeneration felling to the removal of the last of the old crop on that area
The regeneration period is the time over which a new crop is established on an area, from the first regeneration (seeding) felling to the final felling of the old crop. Planting to first thinning and first thinning to final felling are parts of the tending phase; seed years do not define it.
Further reading: Troup, Silvicultural Systems (2nd ed., 1952); Matthews, Silvicultural Systems (1989); Nyland et al., Silviculture (3rd ed., 2016)
A working circle on a 120-year rotation has a regeneration period of 30 years. How many periodic blocks does it have?
B. 4
Number of periodic blocks = rotation ÷ regeneration period = 120 ÷ 30 = 4. 3 comes from 90 ÷ 30; 30 confuses the period with the count; 90 is rotation minus period.
Further reading: Troup, Silvicultural Systems (2nd ed., 1952); Matthews, Silvicultural Systems (1989); Nyland et al., Silviculture (3rd ed., 2016)
Moist sal forests of northern India and chir pine forests of the Himalaya have both been managed under which system?
C. Uniform shelterwood system
Both were worked under the uniform (regular) shelterwood system, with results depending on fire and weed control and seed years. Coppice and pollarding are used in drier sal and on farms; two-storied high forest involves underplanting.
Further reading: Troup, Silvicultural Systems (2nd ed., 1952); Matthews, Silvicultural Systems (1989); Nyland et al., Silviculture (3rd ed., 2016)
A 1,500 ha working circle under the selection system has a felling cycle of 15 years. What is the annual coupe?
B. 100 ha
Annual coupe = area ÷ felling cycle = 1,500 ÷ 15 = 100 ha. 1,000 ha is a factor-of-ten slip; 15 ha confuses cycle with area; 225 ha comes from 15 × 15.
Further reading: Troup, Silvicultural Systems (2nd ed., 1952); Matthews, Silvicultural Systems (1989); Nyland et al., Silviculture (3rd ed., 2016)
In the selection-cum-improvement system used in Indian tropical forests, the improvement component consists of:
D. Removing or girdling dead, dying, defective and unwanted trees to help the remaining crop
The selection part removes mature trees above the exploitable size; the improvement part removes defective and unwanted stems to improve the crop. Replanting the whole coupe is conversion; coppicing is a coppice system; underplanting forms two-storied high forest.
Further reading: Troup, Silvicultural Systems (2nd ed., 1952); Matthews, Silvicultural Systems (1989); Nyland et al., Silviculture (3rd ed., 2016)
The diameter curve of a balanced selection forest, with many small trees and progressively fewer large ones, is called:
A. A reverse-J curve
Tree numbers fall steadily with increasing diameter, giving a reverse-J shape (de Liocourt). Even-aged stands have a roughly bell-shaped diameter distribution; S-shaped curves describe growth over time.
Further reading: Troup, Silvicultural Systems (2nd ed., 1952); Matthews, Silvicultural Systems (1989); Nyland et al., Silviculture (3rd ed., 2016)
In coppice with standards, the standards are:
B. Trees kept over several coppice rotations to produce large timber and seed
Standards form the upper storey and are retained through several coppice rotations. Fodder shoots, gap-filling seedlings and boundary trees are not standards.
Further reading: Troup, Silvicultural Systems (2nd ed., 1952); Matthews, Silvicultural Systems (1989); Nyland et al., Silviculture (3rd ed., 2016)
Improvement fellings in Indian forestry are prescribed mainly to:
D. Raise the quality of an irregular or degraded crop by removing dead, defective and unwanted trees, as a transitional measure
Improvement fellings improve irregular forest without imposing a form, usually until a regular system can be adopted. Clear felling and replanting is conversion; a balanced structure takes many cycles; cutting all stems is coppicing.
Further reading: Troup, Silvicultural Systems (2nd ed., 1952); Matthews, Silvicultural Systems (1989); Nyland et al., Silviculture (3rd ed., 2016)
Dry deciduous forests in India, under heavy fuelwood demand, have commonly been managed under:
B. Coppice with standards
Dry deciduous forests of coppicing species such as dry teak and dry sal supply fuelwood and poles under coppice with standards, with fire and grazing control. The other systems suit long-rotation timber forests.
Further reading: Troup, Silvicultural Systems (2nd ed., 1952); Matthews, Silvicultural Systems (1989); Nyland et al., Silviculture (3rd ed., 2016)
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