TITLE:
Impact of Population Structure, Growth Habit and Seedling Ecology on Regeneration of Embelia ribes Burm. f. —Approaches toward a Quasi in Situ Conservation Strategy
AUTHORS:
Dhavala Annapurna, Ashutosh Srivastava, Trilok Singh Rathore
KEYWORDS:
Embelia ribes; Ex-Situ; In-Situ; Ecological Gradient; Habitat Specialist; Quasi in Situ
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.4 No.6A,
June
19,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Embelia
ribes Burm
f.,
also known as Vidanga or Baibidanga, belonging to the family of Myrsinaceae, is an important but
vulnerable medicinal woody climber. Recent survey and observations of E. ribes in different aspects like
distribution, population structure, growth habit, climate, natural regeneration
and seedling ecology in Karnataka have been thoroughly discussed. This is the
first report on artificial regeneration through seeds of diverse origins in ex-situ and in situ conditions and field planting of them in its natural environment. Field
planting of in vitro and nursery raised seedlings showed better field
performance in terms of survival and growth in its natural growing areas only.
Current studies and observations have shown that this species has low
ecological gradient and is a “habitat specialist”. E. ribes being a
threatened species with small populations coupled with low ecological gradient
and virtually no natural regeneration, a modified approach of quasi in situ conservation where in in-situ raising of seedlings of diverse origin with an aim to enrich the diversity
of existing population was attempted with considerable success.