Mountain bamboo brake

Description

Bamboo brakes are dense, thicket ecosystems dominated by bamboos and with few other trees. Mountain bamboo brake in Myanmar occurs in the north-east, where it occurs together with mountain hardwood forests at mid-high altitudes. Bamboo brake is often considered to occur in response to significant forest disturbances such as shifting cultivation, deforestation or changed fire regimes. However, in Myanmar the first descriptions of these ecosystems arose around 100 years ago (such as Stamp, 1924b), suggesting they may occur naturally in areas where they are able to supress the growth of broadleaf woody vegetation. Despite extensive literature searches, no further descriptions were found and there is therefore considerable uncertainty about the distribution, species diversity and change of this ecosytem.

Assessment summary

Owing to a lack of both occurrence data and descriptive data for this ecosystem, no assessment could be conducted. There remains considerable uncertainty on many components of this ecosytem (distribution, occurrence, drivers of change). Furthermore, the only descriptions we found were from a study conducted nearly 100 years ago (Stamp, 1924a) and we therefore recommend further work to confirm this ecosystem type. Data Deficient.