Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T15:45:40.960Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Patterns of seed rain and seedling regeneration in abandoned agricultural clearings in a seasonally dry tropical forest in India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2009

Karthik Teegalapalli ,
Ankila J. Hiremath  and
Devcharan Jathanna
Karthik Teegalapalli*
Affiliation:
Wildlife Conservation Society-India Programme, Post-graduate Programme in Wildlife Biology and Conservation, National Centre for Biological Sciences, PO Box 6501, Hebbal, Bangalore-560 065, India
Ankila J. Hiremath
Affiliation:
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment, K-1 Commercial Complex, Birbal Road, Jangpura Extension, New Delhi-110014, India
Devcharan Jathanna
Affiliation:
Wildlife Conservation Society-India Programme, Centre for Wildlife Studies, 1669, 31st Cross, 16th Main, Banashankari 2nd stage, Bangalore, Karnataka-560 042, India
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Forest recovery in abandoned pastures and agricultural fields is often impeded, therefore it is important to understand the factors limiting regeneration. Patterns of seed arrival and regeneration in five abandoned agricultural clearings nested within a seasonally dry tropical forest in India were examined along five transects radiating from the forest edge into the clearings. Wind-dispersed seeds dominated the seed arrival in clearings compared with vertebrate-dispersed seeds: 5563 wind-dispersed seeds and 1094 vertebrate-dispersed seeds of 14 and 13 tree species, respectively, were recorded. Numbers of the former declined steeply with increasing distance from the forest, whereas the latter showed no evident pattern with distance. Seeds of the invasive herb, Chromolaena odorata, were abundant in clearings. Although wind-dispersed seeds greatly outnumbered vertebrate-dispersed seeds, seedlings and saplings of vertebrate-dispersed species were three times more abundant than those of wind-dispersed species, indicating distinct differences in patterns of actual and effective seed dispersal. This points to recruitment limitation, and suggests that seed arrival may not be the principal barrier to regeneration in these clearings. Nonetheless, the clearings are likely to revert to forest over time.

Keywords

agricultural clearingsChromolaena odorataregenerationseasonally dry tropical forestsseed dispersal
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 25 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

AIDE, T. M. & CAVELIER, J. 1994. Barriers to lowland forest restoration in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Columbia. Restoration Ecology 2:219–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
AIDE, T. M., ZIMMERMAN, J. K., HERRERA, L., ROSARIO, M. & SERRANO, M. 1995. Forest recovery in abandoned tropical pastures in Puerto Rico. Journal of Forest Ecology and Management 77:77–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BROWN, S. & LUGO, A. E. 1990. Tropical secondary forests. Journal of Tropical Ecology 6:1–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BURNHAM, K. P. & ANDERSON, D. R. 1998. Model selection and inference: a practical information-theoretic approach. Springer-Verlag, New York. 353 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CAIN, M. L., MILLIGAN, B. G. & STRAND, A. E. 2000. Long-distance seed dispersal in plant populations. American Journal of Botany 87:1217–1227.Google Scholar
CHAMPION, S. H. G. & SETH, S. K. 1968. A revised survey of the forest types of India. The Manager of Publication, Delhi. 404 pp.Google Scholar
CHAPMAN, C. A. & CHAPMAN, L. J. 1999. Forest restoration in abandoned agricultural land: a case study from East Africa. Conservation Biology 13:1301–1311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CUBIÑA, A. & AIDE, T. M. 2001. The effect of distance from forest edge on seed rain and soil seed bank in a tropical pasture. Biotropica 33:260–267.Google Scholar
DODDAMANI, M. B., MUMMIGATTI, B. S., NADAGOUDAR, B. S. & CHETTI, M. B. 2001. Chromolaena in Karnataka: problems and prospects. Pp. 42–45 in Sankaran, K. V., Murphy, S. T. & Evans, H. C. (eds.). Alien weeds in moist tropical zone: banes and benefits. Kerala Forest Research Institute, Kerala, India.Google Scholar
DUNCAN, R. S. & CHAPMAN, C. A. 1999. Seed dispersal and potential forest succession in abandoned agriculture in tropical Africa. Ecological Applications 9:998–1008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DUNCAN, R. S. & DUNCAN, V. E. 2000. Forest succession and distance from forest edge in an Afro-tropical grassland. Biotropica 32:33–41.Google Scholar
GALINDO-GONZALEZ, J., GUEVARA, J. S. & SOSA, V. J. 2000. Bat- and bird-generated seed rains at isolated trees in pastures in a tropical rainforest. Conservation Biology 14:1693–1703.Google Scholar
GANESH, T. & DAVIDAR, P. 2001. Dispersal modes of tree species in the wet evergreen forests of southern Western Ghats. Current Science 80:394–399.Google Scholar
GILLESPIE, T. W. 1999. Life history characteristics and rarity of woody plants in tropical dry forest fragments of Central America. Journal of Tropical Ecology 15:637–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GUEVARA, S., LABORDE, J. & SÁNCHEZ-RIOS, G. 2004. Rain forest regeneration beneath canopy of fig trees isolated in pastures of Los Tuxtlas, Mexico. Biotropica 36:99–108.Google Scholar
HOLL, K. D. 1998. Effects of above- and below-ground competition of shrubs and grass on Calophyllum brasiliense (Camb.) seedling growth in abandoned tropical pasture. Forest Ecology & Management 109:187–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HOLL, K. D. 1999. Factors limiting tropical rain forest regeneration in abandoned pastures: seed rain, seed germination, microclimate and soil. Biotropica 31:229–242.Google Scholar
HOLL, K. D. 2002. Effects of shrubs on tree seedling establishment in an abandoned tropical pasture. Journal of Ecology 90:179–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HOWE, H. F. & SMALLWOOD, J. 1982. Ecology of seed dispersal. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 13:201–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HOWE, H. F. 1989. Scatter- and clump-dispersal and seedling demography: hypothesis and implications. Oecologia 79:417–426.Google Scholar
INGLE, N. R. 2003. Seed dispersal by wind, birds, and bats between Philippines montane rainforest and successional vegetation. Oecologia 134:251–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
JANZEN, D. H. 1988. Management of habitat fragments in a tropical dry forest: growth. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 75:105–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JATHANNA, D., KARANTH, K. U. & JOHNSINGH, A. J. T. 2003. Estimation of large herbivore densities in the tropical forests of southern India using distance sampling. Journal of Zoology 261:285–290.Google Scholar
JUSTINIANO, M. J. & FREDERICKSEN, T. S. 2000. Phenology of tree species in Bolivian dry forests. Biotropica 32:276–281.Google Scholar
KAHN, T. P. & LAWRIE, B. C. 1987. Vine thickets of the inland Townsville region. Pp. 159–191 in Werren, G. L. & Kershaw, A. P. (eds.). The rainforest legacy. Volume 1, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.Google Scholar
KARANTH, K. K. 2007. Making resettlement work: the case of India's Bhadra wildlife sanctuary. Biological Conservation 139:315–324.Google Scholar
KARANTH, K. U. 1982. Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary and its endangered ecosystem. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 79:79–86.Google Scholar
KARANTH, K. U. & SUNQUIST, M. E. 1992. Population Structure, density and biomass of large herbivores in the tropical forests of Nagarhole, India. Journal of Tropical Ecology 8:21–35.Google Scholar
KARTHIK, T. 2006. Patterns of seed rain and regeneration in abandoned paddy fields in Bhadra Tiger Reserve. MSc Thesis, Manipal University.Google Scholar
KHURANA, E. & SINGH, J. S. 2001. Ecology of seed and seedling growth for conservation and restoration of tropical dry forest: a review. Environmental Conservation 28:39–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MCCLANAHAN, T. R. & WOLFE, R. W. 1993. Accelerating forest succession in a fragmented landscape: the role of birds and perches. Conservation Biology 7:279–288.Google Scholar
MCCULLAGH, P. & NELDER, J. A. 1989. Generalized linear models. Chapman and Hall, London. 511 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MELI, P. 2003. Restauración ecológica de bosques tropicales. Veinte años de investigación académica. Interciencia 28:581–589.Google Scholar
MISHRA, R. K., UPADHYAY, V. P., BAL, S., MOHAPATRA, P. K. & MOHANTY, R. C. 2006. Phenology of species of moist deciduous forest sites of Simplipal Biosphere Reserve. Lyonia 11:5–17.Google Scholar
MÜNZBERGOVÁ, Z. & HERBEN, T. 2005. Seed, dispersal, microsite, habitat and recruitment limitation: identification of terms and concepts in studies of limitations. Oecologia 145:1–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MYERS, N., MITTERMEIER, R. A., MITTERMEIER, C. G., DA FONSECA, G. A. B. & KENT, J. 2000. Biodiversity hotspot for conservation priorities. Nature 403:853–858.Google Scholar
NATHAN, R. & MULLER-LANDAU, H. C. 2000. Spatial patterns of seed dispersal, their determinants and consequences for recruitment. TREE 15:278–285.Google ScholarPubMed
PARTHASARATHY, N. & KARTHIKEYAN, R. 1997. Plant biodiversity inventory and conservation of two tropical dry evergreen forests on the Coramandel coast, south India. Biodiversity and Conservation 6:1063–1083.Google Scholar
SANCHEZ-AZOFEIFA, G. A., KALACSKA, M., QUESADA, M., CALVO-ALVARADO, J. C., NASSAR, J. M. & RODRIGUEZ, J. P. 2005. Need for integrated research for a sustainable future in tropical dry forests. Conservation Biology 19:285–286.Google Scholar
SCHALLER, G. B. 1967. The deer and the tiger. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 370 pp.Google Scholar
SLOCUM, M. G., AIDE, T. M., ZIMMERMAN, J. K. & NAVARRO, L. 2004. Natural regeneration of subtropical montane forest after clearing fern thickets in the Dominican Republic. Journal of Tropical Ecology 20:483–486.Google Scholar
SUNDARAPANDIAN, S. M., CHANDRASEKHARAN, S. & SWAMY, P. S. 2005. Phenological behaviour of selected tree species in tropical forests at Kodaya in the Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu, India. Current Science 88:805–810.Google Scholar
TEEGALAPALLI, K., HIREMATH, A. J. & JATHANNA, D. 2009. The role of perches in accelerating seed arrival in human-abandoned clearings within Bhadra Tiger Reserve, India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, in press.Google Scholar
TRAVESET, A. 1998. Effect of seed passage through vertebrate frugivores' guts on germination: a review. Perspectives in Plant Ecology 1:151–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VIEIRA, D. L. M. & SCARIOT, A. 2006. Principles of natural regeneration of tropical dry forests of restoration. Restoration Ecology 14:11–20.Google Scholar
UHL, C. 1987. Factors controlling succession following slash-and-burn agriculture in Amazonia. The Journal of Ecology 75:377–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WENNY, D. G. 2001. Advantages of seed dispersal: a re-evaluation of directed dispersal. Evolutionary Ecology Research 3:51–74.Google Scholar
WILLSON, M. F. 1993. Dispersal mode, seed shadows, and colonization patterns. Vegetatio 107/108;261–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WILLSON, M. F. & CROME, F. H. J. 1989. Patterns of seed rain at the edge of a tropical Queensland rain forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology 5:301–308.Google Scholar
YADAV, A. S. & TRIPATHI, R. S. 1981. Population dynamics of the ruderal weed Eupatorium odoratum and its natural regeneration. Oikos 36:355–361.Google Scholar