Observations on the clonal parentage of culms in wild stands of a clumping bamboo from northern Australia

Hogarth N. J., . and Franklin D. C., . Observations on the clonal parentage of culms in wild stands of a clumping bamboo from northern Australia. pp. 139-146. ISSN 0128-1283

Culms and culm shoots harvested from bamboo are the primary products of multi-generational sequences of clonal parents and offspring. However very little is known about the contribution of clonal parent“offspring relationships to productivity. We investigated age and size relationships and the impact of disturbance on clonal parent“offspring relationships for 491 culm recruits in wild clumps of the monocarpic bamboo Bambusa arnhemica from monsoonal northern Australia. Although one-year-old parents were the most common we found considerable flexibility in parent“offspring relationships with variation among years in the age of parents. Moreover rhizomes with senescent or dead culms still produced new ramets. Offspring were generally of similar size to their parents although this varied among years and was influenced by disturbance. The age of the parent did not markedly affect the size of the offspring provided that the parent was leafy. Parent rhizomes with senescent or dead culms produced much smaller offspring. We argue that the suggested prominent role of first-year ramets as parents has little or nothing to do with their contribution to clump resources. A management emphasis on retaining one-year-old culms as the immediate drivers of productivity may be misplaced.

Full text available from: Official URL: http://www.frim.gov.my/v1/JTFSOnline/jtfs/v21n2/13...

Abstract

Culms and culm shoots harvested from bamboo are the primary products of multi-generational sequences of clonal parents and offspring. However very little is known about the contribution of clonal parent“offspring relationships to productivity. We investigated age and size relationships and the impact of disturbance on clonal parent“offspring relationships for 491 culm recruits in wild clumps of the monocarpic bamboo Bambusa arnhemica from monsoonal northern Australia. Although one-year-old parents were the most common we found considerable flexibility in parent“offspring relationships with variation among years in the age of parents. Moreover rhizomes with senescent or dead culms still produced new ramets. Offspring were generally of similar size to their parents although this varied among years and was influenced by disturbance. The age of the parent did not markedly affect the size of the offspring provided that the parent was leafy. Parent rhizomes with senescent or dead culms produced much smaller offspring. We argue that the suggested prominent role of first-year ramets as parents has little or nothing to do with their contribution to clump resources. A management emphasis on retaining one-year-old culms as the immediate drivers of productivity may be misplaced.

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Item Type:	Article
AGROVOC Term:	Culms
AGROVOC Term:	Bamboos
AGROVOC Term:	Plant offspring
AGROVOC Term:	Parentage
AGROVOC Term:	Atmospheric disturbances
AGROVOC Term:	Bambusa
AGROVOC Term:	Rhizomes
AGROVOC Term:	Harvesting
AGROVOC Term:	Shoots
AGROVOC Term:	Clonal variation
Depositing User:	Ms. Suzila Mohamad Kasim
Last Modified:	24 Apr 2025 06:27
URI:	http://webagris.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/21669

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