ibclogo XVI International Botanical Congess


Abstract Number: 3622
Session = 19.8.5


DIVERSITY OF SPECIES ASSEMBLAGES OF NATURAL FOREST FRAGMENTS: PREDICTIONS AND THEIR TEST


GANESHAIAH, K.N. and R. Uma Shaanker


(Departments of Genetics, Univ. Agri. Sci., Bangalore 560 065, India) One of the key processes in the development of an island is the assortative equilbrium stage wherin a set of species become co-adapted. Islands can exist in several diverse states of such assortative equilibria. However, as yet there are no predictions on how diverse these states would be among a set of similar sized islands. Based on the possible combination of species an island can theoretically harbour, we predict the changes in diversity of species compositions with increase in island size. We offer test of this prediction using sholas, natural montane forest fragments. Our results indicate that small fragments or islands may together contribute substantially to the diversity of the species assemblage of the ecosystem and may thus be as important as are the large fragments in conserving biodiversity.


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