Abundance of climbing plants in a southern temperate rain forest: host tree characteristics or light availability?

Abstract

Question: In a southern temperate rain forest, we addressed three questions: (1) Does the abundance of climbing plants increase with light availability? (2) Do host tree species differ in their susceptibility to vine infestation? (3) How does the relationship between host tree trunk diameter and relative abundance of vines vary with their climbing mechanism? Location: Two sites in the temperate evergreen rain forest of southern Chile: Puyehue (40°39′S, 72°09′W; 350 m a.s.l.) and Pastahue (42°22′S, 73°49′W; 285 m a.s.l.). Methods: We sampled vines in 60 25‐m2 plots, with 20 plots in each of three light environments: mature forest, forest edges and canopy gaps. In each plot, for every tree ≥1.50‐m tall of any diameter we counted and identified all climbing plant individuals at a height of 1.30 m. We also counted, measured (trunk diameter at 1.30 m) and identified all these trees, and determined prevalence of vine infestation for each tree species. Results: Light availability in forest plots did not affect vine abundance when the number and size of host trees was taken into account. Overall, vine abundance increased with host tree trunk diameter. Tree species did not differ in the prevalence of vine infestation. The relative abundance of stem twiners and adhesive climbers decreased and increased with trunk diameter, respectively. The densities of stem twiners and adhesive climbers were negatively correlated across the forest. Conclusion: We provide further evidence that the pattern of vine abundance is independent of light availability in southern temperate rain forests, in contrast to results commonly reported for tropical rain forests. We also show that support suitability across the forest varies with the mechanism by which vines climb, probably due in part to biomechanical constraints and in part to vine interspecific competition, a virtually unexplored ecological factor.

Liana habitat and host preferences in northern temperate forests

“…We categorized tree DBH into ten size classes. In this way, we could examine if there was a similar relationship between tree DBH and climbing mode in the temperate northern hemisphere to that in the temperate southern hemisphere (Carrasco-Urra and Gianoli, 2009). For the second aspect, we first calculated the sum of the stem counts of the arboreal lianas of each climbing type as well as the sum of their basal areas.…”

“…Despite the obvious nature of the abundance of lianas in some systems, in the past, lianas and their ecology were often ignored in community studies (Schnitzer and Bongers, 2002). Recently, their importance in succession and other community dynamics has been more thoroughly examined (Cai et al, 2009;Carrasco-Urra and Gianoli, 2009;DeWalt et al, 2000;Gianoli et al, 2010;Ladwig and Meiners, 2010a;Letcher and Chazdon, 2009;Schnitzer and Bongers, 2002;Wright et al, 2004). In tropical forest ecosystems, lianas have the ability to abundance of lianas than these northern temperate areas, a consequence of differences in historical biogeography (Hofstede et al, 2001;Qian and Ricklefs, 1999) and milder winters (Gianoli et al, 2010;Hofstede et al, 2001).…”

“…However, because of their climbing habit (and mechanism by which they climb), they are also directly influenced by the availability and size of supports (Hegarty, 1991;Hegarty and Caballé, 1991;Putz, 1984b;Putz and Holbrook, 1991). The effects of bark texture (Carsten et al, 2002;Clark and Clark, 1990;Putz, 1984a), bole diameter (Carrasco-Urra and Gianoli, 2009;Nesheim and Økland, 2007;Pérez-Salicrup and De Meijere, 2005) and bark chemistry (Talley et al, 1996) on tree use by climbing species has been demonstrated. Thus, because of the unique physical connection between lianas and trees, both environmental factors and characteristics of host species can have an influence on liana distributions in forests.…”

Floristic composition and biogeographic relations of a subtropical assemblage of climbing plants

“…However, climbers are most abundant and most diversified in tropical forests, a feature that distinguishes them from temperate forests, where both the number of species and the abundance of climbers are more restricted (Richards 1998;Schnitzer and Bongers 2002). Because some density data of climbing plants are similar in forest sites of both types, climbers in temperate forests might also play a key role in forest ecology, as has been shown for tropical forests (Carrasco-Urra and Gianoli 2009).…”

Evolutionary implications of the climbing habit in plants

“…Climbing modes entail both simple and complex mechanisms of attachment (Putz & Holbrook 1991;Isnard & Silk 2009;Vaughn & Bowling 2010). Lianas with different climbing modes show differential distribution through forest succession, mainly because of the diameter of available trellises (Putz 1984;Putz & Chai 1987;Putz & Holbrook 1991;DeWalt et al 2000;Carrasco-Urra & Gianoli 2009). At a global scale, however, no relationship was found between the proportion of the two main climbing mechanisms (twining and tendrils) and latitude (Gallagher & Leishman 2012).…”