Angiospermic Plant Dispersal Profile of India—a Maiden Analysis

Abstract

Plant–disperser relationship is a mutual approach that regulates the species composition and habitat diversity. Here, we unfold the dispersal profile of India and provide comprehensive information on plant–disperser relationships, emphasising on plant longevities (annual, biennial, and perennial), plant life forms (tree, shrub, herb, liana), and vegetation types. The floral data were collected from a national database, and the dispersal information of 3301 geo-tagged plant species was gathered. The plant dispersal types were mainly (1) abiotic (hydrochory—water, anemochory—wind) and (2) biotic (endozoochory—internal gut, epizoochory—adherence to external surface, anthropochory—human, ornithochory—bird, myrmecochory—insect, and chirepterochory—bat) that included five dispersal modes, i.e. monochory (single), dichory (double), trichory (triple), quadrichory (four), and quintuchory (five). The generalised linear model was utilised to evaluate plant–disperser relationships. Monochory could explain variances of 56.8%, 51.2%, and 45.1% in perennials, annuals, and biennials, and 45.3%, 46.3%, 39.4%, and 47.7% for trees, shrubs, herbs, and lianas, respectively. Monochory has more significant influence on all major vegetation types, with at least 40% variance explanation. Anemochory, the dispersal by wind factor, was found to exercise by most plants. The life form wise analytics revealed inclination of multiple modes of dispersal for herbs with abiotic factors might be due to lighter weight, followed by trees with biotic dispersers could be owing to large size seeds. The same trend was reported from herb-dominant grassland where abiotic factors mostly contribute to dispersal, whereas the tree-dominant vegetation types exhibit dispersal primarily due to biotic means. This study provides a synoptic diagnosis to understand the dispersal profile of India, which has been an understudied domain.