PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #16: Fire Ecology.
Tuesday, August 7, 2001. Presentation from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM. Exhibition Hall
142
Effects of fire on tree juvenile height and leaf phenology in central India.
Saha, Sonali1, 1
ABSTRACT- In ecosystems where fires are anthropogenic, such as the dry deciduous forests of the tropics, the fire may or may not have the similar effect as naturally fire-impacted ecosystems because plants are not adapted to fire as a selection pressure. However plants experience a long dry season lasting for 4-5 months, and some species undergo stem die-back in response to drought. Most trees in the deciduous forests of central India can sprout successfully after their juveniles (> 1 year in age and between 0.5 and 1.5 m height) are exposed to annual fires. In this study I test the hypothesis that the fire reduces the stature of tree juveniles in a deciduous forest of central India. Leaf phenology, which describes the seasonal cycle of leaf functioning, is compared between tree juveniles under fire and fire-exclusion treatments to test the hypothesis that fire has a temporary increase in plant-water status leading to completion of bud-break and leaf-expansion earlier than the fire-excluded juveniles. A significant difference between plant height was found in five common species. Juveniles of clonal tree species completed bud-break and expansion earlier than the unburned counterparts that completed leaf-expansion only in the end of dry season. Juveniles of tree species showed interspecific variation in the onset of various leaf phenology stages like the adults do, but unlike the adults juveniles show stem die-back in response to annual summer drought.
KEY WORDS: central India, deciduous forests, fire, leaf phenology