PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #13: Plant Ecology: Light Relationships. Presiding: J. Rebbeck.
Monday, August 6, 2001. 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM. Hall of Ideas P&Q.
Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) population ecology: mature forest understory vs. forest edges.
Ribbens, Eric1, 1
ABSTRACT- Pawpaw is an abundant understory shrub in the oldgrowth forest of Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve, Evansville, Indiana. I compared age structures, growth history, herbivory, and leaf area between pawpaws growing in the mature forest understory and pawpaws growing in a nearby younger forest. Pawpaws in the younger forest received substantially more light, gained more height per year than did pawpaws in the mature forest, and had a greater leaf area due to increased leaf length. Furthermore, the relationship between diameter and height was much stronger for pawpaws in the younger forest than for pawpaws in the mature forest. However, pawpaws in the younger forest also experienced much more leaf damage due to herbivory, both in the interior of the leaf and along the leaf margins. Therefore, the advantages of increased light are partially offset by increased herbivory.
KEY WORDS: Asimina triloba, Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve, Herbivory