Management Potential of Tropical Secondary Forests in Ecuador

Background and Objectives: Secondary forests are expanding in the tropics, but stand age alone may not indicate their management potential. We assessed how stand age and biogeographic region are associated with structure, commercial timber and aboveground carbon in Ecuadorian secondary forests. Materials and Methods: Twelve stands aged 8–33 years were censused in four cantons of the Chocó and western Amazonia (315–1250 m a.s.l.): 72 transects of 10 × 50 m (3.60 ha) with 2261 trees of diameter at breast height ≥ 10 cm and 253 species. Aboveground biomass was estimated for 2231 trees with growth-form-specific allometries, and stand-level responses were compared by model selection with the small-sample Akaike information criterion (n = 12 stands). Results: Species with market demand held, on average per stand, 85.4% of volume and 82.1% of aboveground carbon. Five taxa concentrated 57.7% of commercial volume; only Chimarrhis glabriflora showed a reverse-J diameter distribution in all age classes. Floristic composition differed among regions but not among age classes. Structural variation was associated mainly with sampling effort and site conditions rather than with age, which entered only the best-supported carbon model, as an exploratory association. Conclusions: Management should prioritise the measured condition of each stand over its chronological age.