Relationships between leaf deciduousness and flowering traits of woody species in the Brazilian neotropical savanna

Borges, Mariana Prado; Prado, Carlos Henrique Britto de Assis

doi:10.1016/j.flora.2013.10.004

Cited by 18 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Apart from abiotic factors, the cerrado woody species leafing patterns have been related to herbivory avoidance strategies and plant physiology, according to the different leaf exchange strategies or for aluminum accumulating or non‐accumulating species (Franco et al . , Borges & Prado , Souza et al . ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leafing patterns and leaf exchange strategies of a cerrado woody community

et al. 2018

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The deciduousness of tropical trees and communities depend on ecosystems characteristics such as plant species diversity, and strength of the dry season. Based on seven years of phenological observations, we provide the first long‐term description of leafing patterns of a woody cerrado community, aiming to investigate (1) the leaf exchange strategies considering the interannual variation in the degree of deciduousness of individuals and species and quantify the community deciduousness; (2) the relationship between interannual patterns of leaf fall and leaf flush according to the species’ leaf exchange strategies and climate; (3) the onset of cerrado growing season and its relation to climate seasonality. To detect seasonality and leafing onset we applied circular statistics and to understand the relationships between environmental predictors and leaf exchange strategies, we used generalized additive models. From 106 species observed, we classified 69 as deciduous (26 species), semi‐deciduous (25) or evergreen (18) and defined the studied cerrado as a semi‐deciduous vegetation. Leaf phenology was markedly seasonal and similar among years. Leaf fall peaked in the dry season, and leaf flush in the dry‐to‐wet transition. Leaf fall patterns related to temperature and leaf flush to day length and rainfall. Semi‐deciduous and deciduous species were more constrained by climate than the evergreen ones. The cerrado growing season started in the dry‐to‐wet season transition. Interannual variations in rainfall and temperature affected the individuals’ and, consequently, species’ degree of deciduousness, highlighting individual and species variability, and suggesting that cerrado leafing patterns are likely susceptible to future climate change scenarios.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leafing patterns and leaf exchange strategies of a cerrado woody community

et al. 2018

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“…Unfortunately, there are no comparative data on Bauhinia species fruiting during favorable conditions. Dry season reproduction is a rare strategy in the cerrado woody flora (Borges and Prado 2014), suggesting that the costs associated with this ecological strategy may override the benefits only rarely. Resource limitation, inferred from a higher probability of aborted ovules and low conversion of ovules into seeds near fruit bases (O'Donnel and Bawa 1993), accounted for a higher proportion of ovule loss in B. brevipes compared to pollen limitation, inferred from the high proportion of non-fertilized ovules at fruit base.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pollinator activity and abundance (Stoner 2001;Aguiar and Marinho-Filho 2004), and resource availability both decrease during the dry season, thereby restricting plant growth and seedling establishment to the rainy season (Franco 2002;Oliveira 2008;Borges and Prado 2014). Further constraints in plant reproduction emerge from the effects of fires (Ratter et al 1997;Franco 2002) and from the impact of natural enemies, which may be higher in savannas compared to tropical rainforests (Coley and Barone 1996;Marquis et al 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the marked decrease in resource availability during the dry season, several reproductive strategies have evolved in these savannas, with plant communities often showing year-round flowering and fruiting phenology (Oliveira 2008;Borges and Prado 2014). A conspicuous functional group in the woody flora of the cerrado comprises the deciduous species with dry season reproduction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this functional group, both leaf flushing and reproduction typically occur in late dry season when resources are scarce. This strategy occurs in nearly 8 % of species and evolved independently in many unrelated lineages that are dominant in the local flora, including the Bignoniaceae, Malvaceae, Fabaceae, Vochysiaceae, and Clusiaceae, among others (Franco 2002;Batalha and Martins 2004;Borges and Prado 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Costs and benefits of reproducing under unfavorable conditions: an integrated view of ecological and physiological constraints in a cerrado shrub

et al. 2015

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Disentangling the relative importance of biotic and abiotic constraints in plant reproduction is a major challenge in reproductive ecology. Here, we tested the 'resource limitation hypothesis' that predicts a high-level ovule abortion under resource scarcity; the 'flowering displacement hypothesis' that predicts low levels of pollen limitation driven by relaxed competition for pollinators; and the 'herbivory escape hypothesis' that predicts low impact by natural enemies during unfavorable conditions. We followed reproductive phenology, measured the seasonal variation in resource abundance, and calculated initial ovule budgets to estimate the relative importance of each limiting factor on final reproductive output.Ovule fate was determined of ovules in different positions within the pods, and a germination experiment was conducted to identify bottlenecks at the germination stage. Despite marked decreases in resource availability during the dry season, reproduction consistently occurred during mid-to-late dry season. Destruction by natural enemies and abortion were the most likely ovule fates, with only 2.2 % of flower buds converted into ripe fruits. Ovule fates were not random along fruit positions, with higher likelihood of well-formed seeds in fruit tips and higher likelihood of ovule abortion and non-fertilized ovules near the fruit bases. The benefits derived from flowering displacement to the dry season include reduced competition for pollinators and synchronization of seedling establishment with the onset of the rainy season. However, we found no support for the herbivory escape hypothesis. We argue that a costbenefit approach is a useful framework to understand Communicated by Philip Ladd.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (the evolutionary ecology of phenological strategies in seasonal environments.

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