COLONIZATION AND SUCCESSION ON KRAKATAU - AN ANALYSIS OF THE GUILD OFVINING PLANTS

Vines are significant components of rain forests, yet their role in su ccession has received little attention. Changes in vine communities on the Krakatau Islands, Indonesia, during the last 111 years provide an insight into colonizational patterns in a regenerating tropical rain forest. In surveys of Krakatau between 1979 and 1992, 71 species of pl ants that may be described as having a vining growth habit are identif ied out of a total of 306 spermatophytes (i.e., 23% of the flora). Mos t vines on Krakatau are hermaphrodite, approximately 24.6 percent are dioecious, and just 3.7 percent are monoecious. All the vines are inse ct-pollinated, but the proportion of wind-, animal- and sea-dispersed vines varies according to the recent history of the islands. Rakata, t he least disturbed island in the group carries the greatest diversity of vines and the highest proportion of sea-dispersed species. As with many island biotas the vine flora of Krakatau is a disharmonic subset of the mainland (southeast Asian) pool and certain families, e.g., Ann onaceae, Apocynaceae, Bignoniaceae, are relatively under- or unreprese nted.