Relationships between ramet and genet dynamics in two clonal palms
2014
Kouassi, Kouadio I. | Barot, Sébastien | Laossi, Kam-Rigne | Gignoux, Jacques | Zoro Bi, Irié A.
Eremospatha macrocarpa and Laccosperma secundiflorum are two clonal rattan species: through vegetative reproduction each individual, i.e. each genet, may produce several stems that are linked to the same rhizome. To determine the impact of ramet harvest by local human populations in these species, we compared the demography of their ramets and studied the impact of the dynamics of their ramets on the demography of their genets. This also allowed a better analyze of their life-history and demography. Genets were classified in development stages. We counted for each genet the number of alive, new, dead and harvested ramets. We determined the impact of the number of ramets and changes in this number on the genet probability of survival, retrogression and recruitment. Ramet demography differed between the two rattan species. The average numbers of new, harvested and dead ramets are about two times higher in E. macrocarpa than in L. secundiflorum. Furthermore, ramet demography influenced genet demography in both species. The survival of adult genets in E. macrocarpa and juvenile genets in L. secundiflorum increased with the initial number of ramets (about 10% between the lower and higher ramet numbers). The genet probability of retrogression increased in L. secundiflorum and decreased in E. macrocarpa with the initial number of ramets. These results suggest the existence of some physiological integration between the ramets of the two rattan species which leads to some cooperation and competition between ramets, within a genet, and to the compensatory production of new ramets after harvest. Overall, for both species, the links between ramet and genet demography suggest that ramet harvest, at the present harvesting rate, is not detrimental to the studied rattan populations.
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