Regeneration niche partitioning in neotropical pioneers: effects of gap size, seasonal drought and herbivory on growth and survival

Pearson, T.; Burslem, David F. R. P.; Goeriz, Rachel E.; Dalling, James W.

doi:10.1007/s00442-003-1361-x

Cited by 69 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Even in less-disturbed understories, natural gaps occur (Pearson et al, 2003), which increase the gradient of light in the understory. This light gradient allows the occurrence of multiple strategies for light capture, and the coexistence of a large number of species in forests understories.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional leaf traits of understory species: strategies to different disturbance severities

et al. 2015

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The specific leaf area (SLA) has been related to environmental disturbances, showing a positive correlation between the disturbances intensities and SLA in a plant community. These studies, however, assessed the responses of plant community as a whole, neglecting species attributes, such as the position in the vertical stratum of forests. Considering the importance of SLA to understand forest ecological processes, this study aimed to determine the influence of the disturbance regime on the SLA of understory species, considering that, unlike for communities as a whole, an increase in the disturbance intensity implies a decrease in SLA of understory species. This study was conducted in nine understories of seasonal forests in Brazil. The most abundant species were selected and their SLA were evaluated. The variability of SLA among populations in different forests was analyzed by Student's t-tests. The SLA of the understories (SLA U ) was also compared by an adaptation of the Community-weighted mean index. The comparison of species SLA showed significant differences among the populations of understories under different disturbance regime, showing a decrease in SLA with an increase in the disturbance intensity. Similar results were found for the SLA of understories communities (SLA U ), corroborating our hypothesis. The correlation between a reduction in species SLA and in SLA of understory with an increase in disturbance intensity, contradicted the trend observed in the literature for the community as a whole. This study highlights the importance of the evaluation of SLA in understories, as an indicator of the successional stage of communities.Keywords: community-weighted mean index, conservation, intraspecific variability, semideciduous seasonal forests, specific leaf area. Traços funcionais foliares de espécies de sub-bosque: estratégias às diferentes intensidades de perturbação ResumoA área foliar específica (SLA) tem sido relacionada a distúrbios ambientais, apresentando uma correlação positiva entre a intensidade de perturbação e a SLA da comunidade vegetal. Estes estudos, no entanto, avaliaram as respostas da comunidade vegetal como um todo, negligenciando os atributos por espécies, tais como a posição vertical no estrato florestal. Considerando a importância da SLA para entender os processos ecológicos das florestas, este estudo teve como objetivo determinar a influência do regime de perturbação na SLA de espécies de sub-bosque, cuja hipótese é que, ao contrário de comunidades como um todo, um aumento na intensidade de perturbação implica na diminuição da SLA de espécies de sub-bosque. Este estudo foi realizado em nove sub-bosque de florestas estacionais no Brasil. As espécies mais abundantes foram selecionados e suas SLA foram avaliadas. A variabilidade de SLA entre as populações em diferentes florestas foi analisada pelo teste t de Student. O SLA dos sub-bosque (SLAu) também foi comparado por uma adaptação do índice de média ponderada da comunidade. A comparação de SLA das espécies mostraram difere...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional leaf traits of understory species: strategies to different disturbance severities

et al. 2015

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“…Dry season drought has been shown to be a significant source of mortality for seedlings of tropical woody plants, with species exhibiting a wide range of sensitivity to drought conditions (Mulkey and Wright 1996;Engelbrecht and Kursar 2003;Pearson et al 2003b). However, significant effects found in these studies were only observed after several weeks of dry season drought.…”

Section: Drought In Tropical Forestsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short dry spells in the wet season increase mortality of tropical pioneer seedlings

et al. 2006

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Variation in plant species performance in response to water availability offers a potential axis for temporal and spatial habitat partitioning and may therefore affect community composition in tropical forests. We hypothesized that short dry spells during the wet season are a significant source of mortality for the newly emerging seedlings of pioneer species that recruit in treefall gaps in tropical forests. An analysis of a 49-year rainfall record for three forests across a rainfall gradient in central Panama confirmed that dry spells of ‡10 days during the wet season occur on average once a year in a deciduous forest, and once every other year in a semi-deciduous moist and an evergreen wet forest. The effect of wet season dry spells on the recruitment of pioneers was investigated by comparing seedling survival in rain-protected dry plots and irrigated control plots in four large artificially created treefall gaps in a semi-deciduous tropical forest. In rain-protected plots surface soil layers dried rapidly, leading to a strong gradient in water potential within the upper 10 cm of soil. Seedling survival for six pioneer species was significantly lower in rain-protected than in irrigated control plots after only 4 days. The strength of the irrigation effect differed among species, and first became apparent 3-10 days after treatments started. Root allocation patterns were significantly, or marginally significantly, different between species and between two groups of larger and smaller seeded species. However, they were not correlated with seedling drought sensitivity, suggesting allocation is not a key trait for drought sensitivity in pioneer seedlings. Our data provide strong evidence that short dry spells in the wet season differentially affect seedling survivorship of pioneer species, and may therefore have important implications to seedling demography and community dynamics.

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“…Such negative effects associated with FT4 likely resulted from its proximity to the forest edge. FT4 was in the smallest forest fragment (PC) where two transects were very close to the forest edge ( (Pearson et al 2003) might have led to high mortality and low growth rates near FT4 tree. Although seedlings of a pioneer tree species were used, early successional species do not always increase near edges (Laurance et al 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transplant experiments reveal edge effects and inconsistent maternal effects on seedling performance in the pioneer tree <i>Ficus tonduzii</i> (Moraceae)

Sugiyama

Peterson

2015

Tropics

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Edge effects caused by forest fragmentation may impact the growing environment of both seedlings and maternal trees. Early regeneration stages are of special concern but how maternal origin, edge effects, light environment, and distance from reproductive conspecific trees, as expected from the Janzen-Connell hypothesis, may affect seedling performance, has rarely been studied simultaneously. The goal of this study was to experimentally assess the relative importance of the aforementioned factors for seedling performance of an animal-dispersed, pioneer tree species Ficus tonduzii (Moraceae) in premontane wet forest fragments in Costa Rica. Seedlings from known maternal origins were grown in a screen house before being transplanted at two distances from focal trees in forest fragments. Both maternal trees (home) and non-maternal reproductive conspecific (away) were used as focal trees. In the screen house, seedling size and inherent growth differed by maternal origin. In the forest, distance from the nearest forest edge was the primary factor affecting survivorship and growth of transplants. Additionally, inconsistent maternal effects were observed. While seedlings from a particular maternal origin showed reduced growth in the screen house, those same seedlings showed enhanced growth once they were transplanted in the forest. In contrast, light environment or distance from the reproductive conspecific tree did not predict seedling performance. Home disadvantage was observed for one tree, which underlined the significance of seed dispersal. The results from this case study emphasize the importance of considering both edge effects and stage-specific maternal effects for successful species regeneration and restoration practices in fragmented landscapes.

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Regeneration niche partitioning in neotropical pioneers: effects of gap size, seasonal drought and herbivory on growth and survival

Cited by 69 publications

References 3 publications

Functional leaf traits of understory species: strategies to different disturbance severities

Functional leaf traits of understory species: strategies to different disturbance severities

Short dry spells in the wet season increase mortality of tropical pioneer seedlings

Transplant experiments reveal edge effects and inconsistent maternal effects on seedling performance in the pioneer tree <i>Ficus tonduzii</i> (Moraceae)

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