I am not botanist. Many things can affect species, ranging from various types of disasters, to farming, urbanization, to increased utilization in market. Rattan has become quite popular for furnature, so is it over utilized, have difficulty in growing back, lost in timber removal, conversion of land to agriculture or other land uses. In harvesting, are sites damaged, rutted, compacted or drained? Some plants need fire, others not. Invasive species, insects, diseases all possibilities. POGO is an old cartoon, but one of his statements was "we have met the enemy, and it is us".
But the first step may be recognizing there might be a problem. Assuming the decline is real, and you dont already know why, it would be a good time to enlist various resource skills such as in soils, hydrology, botany, forestry, ecology, biology, climate (drought, exceptional high temperatures), rattan cultivators/harvesters and perhaps others as needed to consider what is changing from reference conditions.
Dear Binoy Kurian
Most of the ratttan what you refeering of climbing palms found in evergreen forests as understorey vegetation. IN simple word, the Ecological niche of any speceis would occur mainly by habitat destruction could be natural or man induced. Most of the rattan in India or in S-E Asia are being used for different purpsoes and unscrupulous unscientifc harvesting of the speceis itself is the major threat to the speceis. Further, since rattans are found in association with some specific species as associate speceis (say evergreens). Any disturbance/ destruction of associate speceis would also affect the ecological niche of the speceis.
As in the preceding response, the term habitat (or site) applies to a concrete geographic location. Generally, niche is used non-spatially, that is without providing geographic coordinates. Habitat, niche, ecosystem are ill-defined in relation to each other and may therefore be avoided where possible. My Q&A on RG did not clarify the issue.
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