Domestication of Trees or Forests: Development Pathways for Fruit Tree Production in South-east Asia - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 74

not only changes in tree characteristics, but also changes in forest systems. This
coevolutionary process will be further elaborated in the next section.
As discussed above, the inclusive interpretation of domestication also
involves the notion of a progressively closer interaction between tree resources
and people. In this context, the process of domestication should not only be
considered as involving changes in biological characteristics of species and their
production systems, but also as involving changes in the fulfilment of human
needs with respect to products and environmental services. I return to this
dimension of the process of domestication in a later section.

4.3 Coevolution between Trees and Production Systems in the
Process of Domestication

The concept of domestication as a coevolutionary process between trees and
production systems is particularly apt when considering fruit tree production.
Fruit tree exploitation normally starts in the forests, and increasing exploitation
involves a gradual modification of forests by changing their composition and
structure (Verheij, 1991; Wiersum, 1997b). This process starts with enriching
forests with useful crops, often in the form of fruit species. The first phase of
domestication of trees involves a process of concentration of naturally
occurring useful tree resources in natural forests. In subsequent phases, new
species may also be introduced in these forests. At first this will take the form of
transplanting of wildlings or seeding of wild species. But as management
intensity increases, selected varieties may be introduced as well (Table 4.2). As
a result of these dynamics in exploitation systems, fruit trees may be grown in a
variety of production systems (Wiersum, 1997a):

● Natural forests in which wild fruit trees are protected : specific areas or

specific fruit tree species in natural forests that are favoured and protected
because of their value for providing useful materials.

● Resource-enriched natural forests (Anderson, 1990): natural forests, either

old-growth or fallow vegetation, whose composition has been altered by
selective protection and incidental or purposeful propagule dispersion of
fruit trees. Schroth et al . (2004b) characterized these production systems as
'permanent agroforests', which are continuously renovated in a small-scale
pattern of replanting and spontaneous regeneration.

● Reconstructed natural forests (Anderson, 1990): (semi-)cultivated forest

stands with several planted fruit tree species, tolerated or encouraged wild
species of lesser value, and non-tree plants (herbs, lianas) composed of
mainly wild species. Schroth et al . (2004b) characterized these production
systems as 'cyclic agroforests', undergoing cycles of distinct management
phases, including periodic replanting with agricultural intercropping. The
term forest garden is used to refer to both resource-enriched and
reconstructed natural forests (Wiersum, 2004).

● Mixed arboriculture : cultivated mixed stands, almost exclusively of planted,

and often biologically modified, tree species. Typical examples are