1Department of Forestry, College of Forestry, VCSG Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Ranichauri, Tehri Garhwal- 249 199, India
2Department of Industrial Microbiology, Jacob Institute of Biotechnology and Bioengineering (JIBB), Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHUATS), Prayagraj-211 007, India
Department of Forestry, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram -796 004, India
*E-mail: kewatsanjay@gmail.com
Online Published on 19 September, 2022.
Lianas (woody climbers) are relatively underexplored life forms of many forests, which predominantly forms tropical forests and provide food and shelter to a variety of animals. A study on flower-pollinator interactions in Caesalpinia cucullata Roxb. was conducted in the tropical rain forest of Indo-Burma hot spot at Tanhril area of Aizawl district of Mizoram. Floral visitors of C. cucullata were monitored and recorded during 24 field days, four to six hour per day with a total of about one hundred hours during the flowering season of November-December, 2016. The flowers of C. cucullata were found to be visited by three insect species belonging three families; nine passeriformes birds belonging eight families and one Hoary-bellied Himalayan squirrel (Irrawaddy squirrel) belonging family Scuiridae. Birds and squirrel mainly visited the flowers in morning hours while butterflies and bees exhibited diurnal pattern of foraging. The results revealed that the bird pollination is supported by butterflies in C. cucullata. The flowers of C. cucullata would be excellent food resource to the dependent animal species during dry cold period in the extreme tropical sloppy mountain forest site when availability of floral resource is very scarce. Therefore, C. cucullata could be a valuable liana species for the conservation of valuable species of insects, birds and squirrels.
Liana, Birds, Insects, Pollination, Tropical forest and conservation
