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Bamboo: Origin, Habitat, Distributions and Global Prospective

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Biotechnological Advances in Bamboo

Abstract

Bamboo is the multifunctional and fastest-growing plant on Earth. Bamboo has played a crucial role in the daily life of millions of people in tropical countries, where it provides environmental, social and economic benefits. Bamboo belongs to the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Today, the native bamboo distributes mainly in Asia, America and Africa, but Europe is unable to claim any native bamboo species. Approximately 123 genera and more than 1500 species of bamboo plant have been identified across the world. The natural distribution of bamboo across the tropical and subtropical regions is dependent on the type of soil, rainfall, temperature and altitude. The latitudinal distribution of bamboo ranges from 47° S to 50° 30′ N, while the altitudinal distribution from sea level to 4300 m. The occurrence of bamboo is therefore associated with the area mostly mesic to wet forest types in both temperate and tropical regions. However, there are some other bamboos reported to be adapted for open grasslands or narrow habitat. The present chapter is aiming to summarize the details of bamboo origin, habitat and global distribution. The classification of Bambusoideae has been also given. Moreover, an overview of important bamboo genera and species has been discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation for Scholars of China (31870595) and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.

Conflict of Interest

There is no conflict of interest.

Author Contribution

ZA and AU wrote the manuscript. YD, AE and AS reviewed and added to the review. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bamboo Research Institute, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Zishan Ahmad, Yulong Ding & Abolghassem Emamverdian

  2. Co-innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Zishan Ahmad, Yulong Ding & Abolghassem Emamverdian

  3. Plant Biotechnology Section, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

    Anamica Upadhyay & Anwar Shahzad

Authors
  1. Zishan Ahmad
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  2. Anamica Upadhyay
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  3. Yulong Ding
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  4. Abolghassem Emamverdian
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  5. Anwar Shahzad
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yulong Ding .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bamboo development laboratory, Bamboo Research Institute, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China

    Zishan Ahmad

  2. Bamboo development laboratory, Bamboo Research Institute Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China

    Yulong Ding

  3. Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

    Anwar Shahzad

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Ahmad, Z., Upadhyay, A., Ding, Y., Emamverdian, A., Shahzad, A. (2021). Bamboo: Origin, Habitat, Distributions and Global Prospective. In: Ahmad, Z., Ding, Y., Shahzad, A. (eds) Biotechnological Advances in Bamboo. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1310-4_1

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