Premium
Adaptive significance of vegetative sprouting for a tropical canopy tree, Scaphium longiflorum (Sterculiaceae), in a peat swamp forest in Central Kalimantan
Author(s) -
Yamada Toshihiro,
Kumagawa Yoshie,
Suzuki Eizi
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
ecological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1440-1703
pISSN - 0912-3814
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1703.2001.00425.x
Subject(s) - swamp , sprouting , canopy , peat , vegetative reproduction , biology , shoot , sterculiaceae , botany , tree canopy , juvenile , ecology
Scaphium longiflorum Ridley (Sterculiaceae), a common canopy tree in peat swamp forests in the Far East, produces vegetative sprouting in its juvenile stage. We investigated morphological features and allometric properties of the species in a peat swamp forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, to determine under what conditions ramets are produced and discuss the adaptive significance of the vegetative sprouting in a peat swamp environment. Larger juveniles were more toppled, and the toppled ones sprouted vegetatively. Therefore, the vegetative sprouting acts as a countermeasure for a shoot’s mechanical failure and fall on an unstable peat soil. We propose three hypotheses to explain the reason why larger juveniles are more often toppled in a peat swamp environment.