Barriers to forest regeneration of deforested and abandoned land in Panama

Hooper, Elaine R.; Legendre, Pierre; Condit, Richard

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2664.2005.01106.x

Cited by 258 publications

(211 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Due to the low maintenance cost of natural regeneration, this method is often considered as a good option for restoration of larger and little degraded areas (Aide et al 2000, Hooper et al 2005. Here, only preventing disturbance has not been enough to accelerate the restoration of the regenerative potential of zoochorous species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed rain dynamics following disturbance exclusion in a secondary tropical dry forest in Morelos, Mexico

Ceccon

Hernández

2013

RBT

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Abstract:In most of the legally protected areas in Mexico local inhabitants use natural resources, such as fire wood or cattle grazing. These frequent but low-intensity disturbances have consequences at various levels of the tropical ecosystems and strongly impact forest structure and its regeneration capacity. Despite their importance, the effects of these perturbations in many aspects of tropical forest ecology and in the forest's capacity to recover after disturbance exclusion remain poorly understood. Understanding the impact of these processes on tropical forests is necessary for rehabilitating these forests and enhancing their productivity. In this study, we evaluate the impact of twelve years of exclusion (E) of cattle grazing and fire wood extraction in the composition and dynamics of seed rain, and compare this assessment to a similar analysis in an area where these perturbations continued (without exclusion, WE). We found a strong seasonality in seed rain (96% of seeds fell in the dry season) in both areas. There were no significant differences between E and WE sites in relation to overall seed density, species richness and diversity. However, the distribution along the year of seed species density was significantly different among the E and WE sites. The Jaccard's similarity index between E and WE sites was relatively low (0.57). Barochory was the most common dispersal mode observed among the 23 species in terms of seed species density (48%), followed by anemochory (39%) and zoochory (13%). In relation to seed density, anemochory was the most frequent dispersal mode (88%). Most species in the zone were categorized as small seeds (92%), and there were no significant differences in the distribution of seed size between E and WE. The spatial pattern of dispersal of the four species with the highest relative importance value index, in both areas, was aggregated. Twelve years of disturbance exclusion were not enough to fully restore the seed rain of the area; some differences were already perceptible after this lapse. On the other hand, zoochorous species were almost absent from both sites. The re-introduction of climax and animal-dispersed species may be, in addition to perturbation exclusion, a viable strategy to accelerate ecological restoration in this area. Rev. Biol. Trop. 57 (1-2): 257-269. Epub 2009 June 30.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed rain dynamics following disturbance exclusion in a secondary tropical dry forest in Morelos, Mexico

Ceccon

Hernández

2013

RBT

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“…Dentre os mecanismos de dispersão, plantas que apresentam elementos atrativos para animais frugívoros, como aves e mamíferos, correspondem a cerca de 90% das espécies lenhosas tropicais e subtropicais (CORDEIRO;HOWE, 2003). Todavia, mesmo para pastagens próximas a remanescentes florestais, observa-se em vários estudos uma queda significativa do número de sementes dispersas por animais para distâncias a partir de 5-40 m da borda (ZIMMERMAN; PASCARELLA; AIDE, 2000;CUBIÑA;AIDE, 2001;HOOPER;LEGENDRE;CONDIT, 2005;GÜNTER et al, 2007). A limitação causada pela ausência de vegetação adequada para o deslocamento da fauna faz com que animais frugívoros apresentem o comportamento de evitar áreas de pastagens (WILLSON;IRVINE;WALSH, 1989).…”

Section: Barreiras à Dispersão De Sementesunclassified

Barreiras Ao Estabelecimento Da Regeneração Natural Em Áreas De Pastagens Abandonadas

Fragoso¹,

Carpanezzi²,

Koehler³

et al. 2017

Ciênc. Florest.

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RESUMOA pressão exercida sobre as florestas tropicais devido à fragmentação de paisagens naturais tem causado alterações no padrão de substituição das espécies presentes na comunidade vegetal. No caso de pastagens abandonadas, verifica-se uma maior vulnerabilidade do ambiente à colonização por gramíneas exóticas invasoras, as quais representam uma barreira ao estabelecimento de plantas nativas, desde a dispersão e germinação das sementes, até estádios mais avançados do seu desenvolvimento. Em vista disso, propôs-se discorrer sobre alguns dos processos da regeneração natural em áreas de pastagens, abordando aspectos que impedem o recrutamento de espécies lenhosas desejáveis e, nesse contexto, a exposição de algumas metodologias embasadas no conceito de nucleação que podem auxiliar nesse processo. Por meio da compreensão dos mecanismos envolvidos na manutenção das comunidades vegetais, verifica-se que a germinação de sementes e o recrutamento de plântulas são passos cruciais do processo de restabelecimento da vegetação. Como apenas uma estreita faixa de condições é adequada (safe sites) ao recrutamento, o sucesso da regeneração está relacionado à capacidade do ambiente em proporcionar um leito adequado para germinação de sementes (seedbed). A utilização de metodologias que visem à regeneração natural, para serem eficazes em áreas de pastagens, devem ser bem estabelecidas tecnicamente e adequadas à realidade local, pois, embora apresentem resultados iniciais promissores, podem deixar de ser efetivas com o passar do tempo. Palavras-chave: gramíneas inibidoras; nucleação; sítio seguro; cama de sementes. ABSTRACTThe pressure on rainforests due to fragmentation of natural landscapes has caused changes in the substitution pattern of the species present in the plant community. In the case of abandoned pastures, there is an increased environmental vulnerability to colonization by invasive exotic grasses, which represent a barrier to the establishment of native plants, since the dispersion and seed germination until the later stages of their development. We proposed to discuss some of the processes of natural regeneration in pastures, addressing issues that hinder the recruitment of desirable woody species and, in this context, the exposure of some methodologies based on the concept of nucleation that can help this process. Through understanding of the mechanisms involved in the maintenance of plant communities, we observed that the seed germination and seedling recruitments are crucial steps in the process of vegetation restoration. Because only a narrow range

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“…The lack of surrounding forest cover effect is likely due to the fact that the most common early colonizing species in our plots, such as Cecropia spp., H. appendiculatus, and various tree species in the Melastomataceae, are widespread as remnant trees and along fence lines in the landscape (Cole et al 2010). We were surprised that herbaceous cover early in the study did not explain variation in natural recruitment biomass, as pasture grasses in particularly compete strongly with young seedlings (Hooper et al, 2005;García-Orth and Martínez-Ramos, 2011); however, once trees grow taller than the grasses they rapidly shade out the light-demanding grasses so competition is reduced.…”

Section: Factors Affecting Variation Across Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors explaining variability in woody above-ground biomass accumulation in restored tropical forest

Holl

Zahawi

2014

Forest Ecology and Management

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This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues.Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. Secondary forests comprise an increasing area of the tropics and play an important role in global carbon cycling. We compare above-ground biomass accumulation of both planted and naturally regenerating trees, as well as C in the top soil layer, in three restoration treatments replicated at 14, six to eight year old restoration sites in southern Costa Rica. Restoration strategies include: control (no planting), planting tree islands, and conventional, mixed-species tree plantations. We evaluate the importance of past landuse, soil nutrients, understory cover, and surrounding forest cover in explaining variation in aboveground biomass accumulation (ABA) rate across sites. Total ABA and planted tree ABA rate were highest in plantations, intermediate in islands, and lowest in control treatments, whereas ABA rate of naturally regenerating trees did not differ across treatments. Most ABA in plantations (89%) and islands (70%) was due to growth of planted trees. Soil carbon did not change significantly over the time period of the study in any treatment. The majority of across-site variation in both total and planted tree ABA rate was explained by duration of prior pasture use. Tree growth in the first two years after planting explained approximately two-thirds of the variation in ABA rate after 6-8 years. Soil nutrient concentrations explained relatively little of the variation in planted or naturally recruiting ABA rate. Our results show that planting trees substantially increases biomass accumulation during the first several years of forest recovery in former agricultural lands and that past-land use has a strong effect on the rate of biomass accumulation. Planting tree islands is a cost-effective strategy for increasing ABA and creating more heterogeneous habitat conditions than tree plantations. We recommend small scale planting trials to quickly assess potential biomass accumulation and prioritize sites for ecosystem service payments for carbon sequestration.

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Barriers to forest regeneration of deforested and abandoned land in Panama

Cited by 258 publications

References 48 publications

Seed rain dynamics following disturbance exclusion in a secondary tropical dry forest in Morelos, Mexico

Seed rain dynamics following disturbance exclusion in a secondary tropical dry forest in Morelos, Mexico

Barreiras Ao Estabelecimento Da Regeneração Natural Em Áreas De Pastagens Abandonadas

Factors explaining variability in woody above-ground biomass accumulation in restored tropical forest

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