TITLE:
Changes in Plant Species during Succession in a Sago Forest
AUTHORS:
Yoshimasa Kumekawa, Matheus Kilmaskossu, Makito Mori, Akira Miyazaki, Katsura Ito, Ryo Arakawa, Tatsuya Fukuda, Hubertus Matanubun, Yoshinori Yamamoto
KEYWORDS:
Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA), Plant Species, Sago Palm
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.5 No.24,
November
27,
2014
ABSTRACT: The variation in solar environments during succession in sago forests is thought to affect the growth of many plant species. To clarify the pattern of plant colonization in sago forests at various successional stages, we constructed eleven 10 m × 10 m quadrats in different solar conditions in sago forests, measured and calculated the relative illumination intensity, collected all plant species in these quadrats, and used two chloroplast gene sequences—the rbcL gene of ferns and the trnL intron of angiosperms to molecularly identify them. The number of ferns increased while the number of herbaceous species decreased during the process of succession. Moreover, the number of woody species was not significantly correlated with the relative light intensity. Based on these results, it can be concluded that woody species colonized and grew at various successional stages but herbaceous species and ferns did the same in the early and late successional stages, respec-tively, in the sago forest.