Lyonia 11(1) 2006 Volume 11(1) June 2006 ISSN: 0888-9619 Introduction Moving on! Dear Lyonia readers, This will be my last issue of Lyonia to publish. After three years as Editor-in-Chief of Lyonia it is time for me to move on to new tasks. In the last three years, Lyonia changed from an infrequently published in-house journal, to an internationally recognized online journal with multiple issues per year. The quality of manuscripts submitted to Lyonia is excellent. Lyonia’s focus on tropical ecology and sustainable development attracts a large number of contributions. The journal is read especially widely in the tropical countries of our world, with the highest percentage of its readers coming from Latin America. There is always room for improvement however, and I hope that Lyonia is going to become even better under its new Editor-in-Chief. For now, Dr. Cliff Morden, Interim Director of Lyon Arboretum, will take over this position. I wish to thank all members of the Editorial Board, all reviewers, and of course, all contributers, who have helped to make Lyonia a successful online journal in a very short time. Regards, Rainer Bussmann Lyonia, Volume 11(1), June 2006 Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Rainer Bussmann Contact Information Surface mail: Lyonia Harold L. Lyon Arboretum 3860 Manoa Rd.Honolulu, HI 98622 USA Phone: +1 808 988 0456 e-mail: [email protected] Editorial Board Balslev, Henrik, University of Aarhus, Denmark Brandt, Kirsten, Denmark Bush, Marc, Florida Institure of Technology, USA Cotton, Elvira, University of Aarhus, Denmark Goldarazena, Arturo, NEIKER, Spain Geldenhuys, Coert, FORESTWOOD, South Africa Goikoetxea, Pablo G., NEIKER, Spain Gradstein, Rob, University of Goettingen, Germany Hall, John B., University of Bangor, United Kingdom Janovec, John, BRIT, USA Joergensen, Peter, Missouri Botanical Garden, USA Kilpatrick, Alan, San Diego State University, USA Kueppers, Manfred, University of Hohenheim, Germany Lovett, Jon C., University of York, United Kingdom Lucero Mosquera, Hernan P., Universidad Tecnica Particular Loja, Ecuador Miller, Marc, Emory University, USA Navarete Zambrano, Hugo G., Pontifica Universidad Catholica Quito, Ecuador Onyango, John C., Maseno University, Kenya Pritchard, Lowell, Emory University, USA Pitman, Nigel, Duke University, USA Pohle, Perdita, University of Giessen, Germany Sarmiento, Fausto, University of Georgia, USA Sharon, Douglas, University of California at Berkeley, USA Silman, Miles, Wake Forest University, USA Thiemens, Mark H., University of California San Diego, USAU Wilcke, Wolfgang, Universitaet Mainz, Germany Yandle, Tracy, Emory University, USA Zimmermann, Reiner, Universitaet Hohenheim, Germany Lyonia, Volume 11(1), June 2006 What is Lyonia? What is Lyonia? Lyonia is an electronic, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal devoted to the fast dissemination of current ecological research and its application in conservation, management, sustainable development and environmental education. Manuscript submission, peer-review and publication are entirely handled electronically. As articles are accepted they are automatically published as "volume in progress" and immediatelly available on the web. Every six months a Volume-in-Progress is declared a Published Volume and subscribers receive the table of Contents via e-mail. Lyonia seeks articles from a wide field of disciplines (ecology, biology, anthropology, economics, law etc.) concerned with ecology, conservation, management, sustainable development and education in mountain and island environments with particular emphasis on montane forest of tropical regions. In its research section Lyonia published peer-reviewed scientific papers that report original research on ecology, conservation and management, and particularly invites contributions that show new methodologies employing interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches. The sustainable development and environmental education section contains reports on these activities. Lyonia, Volume 11(1), June 2006 Table of Contents Volume 11(1) Phenology of species of moist deciduous forest sites of Similipal biosphere reserve Phenology of species of moist deciduous forest sites of Similipal biosphere reserve R.K.Mishra1, V. P. Upadhyay2 S. Bal1, P.K. Mohapatra1 & R. C. Mohanty1 [5-17] Sequestration and storage capacity of carbon in the canopy oak trees and their epiphytes in a Neotropic Cloud Forest, Colombia Diego Higuera* & Eliana Martínez** [19-25] Tree population structure, regeneration and expected future composition at different levels of Lantana camara L. invasion in the Vindhyan tropical dry deciduous forest of India Gyan P. Sharma* and A. S. Raghubanshi [27-39] Vegetation zonation and nomenclature of African Mountains - An overview Rainer W. Bussmann [41-66] Litterfall and nutrient fluxes in canopy oaks in neotropical cloud forest – Colombia Litterfall and nutrient fluxes in canopy oaks in neotropical cloud forest – Colombia Diego Higuera* & Eliana Martínez** [67-74] Forest Resource Management in Mountain Regions: A Case for the Pindar Basin of Uttaranchal Himalaya Forest Resource Management in Mountain Regions: A Case for the Pindar Basin of Uttaranchal Himalaya Vishwambhar Prasad Sati [75-84] Ficus (Fig) species in Nepal: a review of diversity and indigenous uses Ficus (Fig) species in Nepal: a review of diversity and indigenous uses Ripu M. Kunwar1* & Rainer W. Bussmann2 [85-97] Lyonia, Volume 11(1), June 2006 Volume 11(1) Phenology of species of moist deciduous forest sites of Similipal biosphere reserve Phenology of species of moist deciduous forest sites of Similipal biosphere reserve R.K.Mishra1, V. P. Upadhyay2 S. Bal1, P.K. Mohapatra1 & R. C. Mohanty1 1Department of Botany, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar-4, 2Ministry of Environment and Forests, North East Regional Office, Shillong- 793 003 Address for correspondence: Dr V P Upadhyay 2 Ministry of, Environment and Forests, North East Regional Office, Uplands Road, Laitumkhrah, Shillong- 793 003, India, Email: [email protected] June 2006 Download at: http://www.lyonia.org/downloadPDF.php?pdfID=2.465.1 Phenology of species of moist deciduous forest sites of Similipal biosphere reserve Abstract Vegetative and reproductive phenology of 57 overstorey and 33 understorey species was studied in a tropical moist deciduous forest of Similipal Biosphere Reserve (SBR) located in Orissa state in India. A prominent peak in leaf drop, leaf flush and flowering of overstorey species occurred in March, April and April to May, respectively. However the peak period of such phenological events in understorey species is slightly different than over storey species. The peak fruiting period of both overstorey and understorey species are same i.e. from May to June. The fruiting phenology follows closely the flowering phenology. Fruit fall culminates before or just at the beginning of the monsoon season and, thus, ensures availability of sufficient moisture to seeds for germination and seedling establishment. Leaf drop, leaf flush and flowering both in overstorey and under storey species have been triggered by changes in day length and temperature, which indirectly signifies that soil moisture availability may have shaped the phenological patterns of both overstorey and understorey species. The phenological information obtained both for overstorey and understorey species in the present study is mostly influenced by the seasons and would be useful for planning proper management strategies in Similipal biosphere reserve to sustain regeneration development . Key words: Degree of disturbance, Fruiting, Flowering, Leaf flushing, Phenological activity, Seasonality. Introduction Phenology is the study of the timing of recurring biological events, among phases of the plant species, which provide a background for collecting and synthesizing detailed quantitative information on rhythms of plant communities. Tropical plants with their high level of species diversity display phenological events such as leaf drop, leaf flushing, flowering and fruiting, etc. in relation to time and space (Justiniano and Fredericksen, 2000; Singh and Singh, 1992). Study of such events is useful in evolving proper management strategy as well as better understanding of natural forest regeneration potential and community level interactions (Fox, 1976). Studies from different parts of the world have shown that climatic factors are mainly responsible for vegetative and reproductive phenology at both community and species level. But phenology of the tropical forest tree species is not well understood although water stress is most frequently cited as a primary factor responsible for the timing of phenological events (Singh and Singh, 1992). However , various phenological events are triggered by rainfall, water availability, temperature, photoperiods, duration of dry spell and change in day length (Bhat and Murali, 2001; Hamann, 2004; Sivaraj and Krishnamurthy, 2002). The tropical forests have a distinctive array of species different from temperate and rain forests. It supports different varieties of overstorey and understorey plant species, which are major food resources for a variety of biota (Bhat and Murali, 2001). In India extensive reports are available on phenological studies of tropical tree species in forest ecosystems of Central Himalaya (Ralhan et al., 1985a, b; Sundriyal, 1990), northeastern India (Shukla and Ramakrishnan, 1982; Kikim and Yadav, 2001), Western Ghats (Bhat and Murali, 2001) and Eastern Ghats (Sivaraj and Krishnamurthy,