Abstract
Three categories of secondary successional herbaceous communities subsequent ot slash and burn, viz., early successional non-sprouting, early successional sprouting and late successional populations were investigated for their reproductive efficiency considering leaf component since it is the chief organ of photosynthesis. Early successional non-sprouting populations were found to be reproductively the most efficient whereas the early successional sprouting populations allocated more to vegetatively reproducing organs. While the high reproductive potential of early successional non-sprouting species was associated with vigour and production efficiency of the species, this relationship was stronger with the latter characteristic. On the other hand, early successional sprouting populations showed inverse relationship between vegetative and sexual reproductive effort. The strategy of late successional species seems to be to maximize vegetative growth in a closed habitat. The significance of these strategies is discussed in the paper.
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Saxena, K.G., Ramakrishnan, P.S. Reproductive efficiency of secondary successional herbaceous population subsequent to slash and burn of sub-tropical humid forests in north-eastern India. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. 91, 61–68 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03052964
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03052964