TITLE:
Floss release, seed fall and germination of kapok seeds (Ceiba pentandra) in an urban environment
AUTHORS:
Alfan A. Rija, Abubakari Said, Julius Mwita, Kuruthumu A. Mwamende
KEYWORDS:
Ceiba Pentandra; Floss Release and Seed Fall; Human Impacts; Plant Recruitment;Urban Environments
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.3 No.6,
October
22,
2013
ABSTRACT: The tropical forest kapok tree occurs widely in urban
environments, dispersing thousands of floss during the fruiting season. However,
its seedlings are rarely seen around human settlements, raising questions on what factorsmight
be limiting its recruitment. We examined the pattern of floss release, seed
fall post-dispersal and influences of watering frequency on germination ofCeiba pentandraseeds. Evening,overall, was associated with
a significantlyhigher rate and quantity of floss release (p= 0.0001) than were mid-day and
morning, correlating well with the speed of wind across the day (rh = 0.666,p= 0.001). Mean dispersal quantity
differed significantly between the individual sampled trees, in which the highest
dispersal was recorded from trees located in relatively open areas and the
lowest was recorded in closed stand trees. Seed fall was higher within100 mdistances than seed fall farther
away from dispersing trees, depending on the microsites and weather conditions.
Germination started on day 5 onwards and only 15.67% of sown seeds germinated.
Watering frequency strongly influenced seed germination while local human
activities determined fate of dispersed seeds. We conclude that recruitment ofC. pentandraspecies in the study area
may have been limited by environmental and human factors operating at various
local and spatial scales.