The determinants of tropical forest deciduousness: disentangling the effects of rainfall and geology in central Africa

Ouédraogo, Dakis-Yaoba; Fayolle, Adeline; Gourlet‐Fleury, Sylvie; Mortier, Frédéric; Freycon, Vincent; Fauvet, Nicolas; Rabaud, Suzanne; Cornu, Guillaume; Bénédet, Fabrice; Gillet, Jean‐François; Oslisly, Richard; Doucet, Jean‐Louis; Lejeune, Philippe; Favier, Charly

doi:10.1111/1365-2745.12589

Cited by 32 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…For example, shifts in forest characteristics from deciduous to evergreen dominance have been shown to contribute to seasonal changes in energy, water, and carbon balance that have been reported in many tropical and subtropical forests (Bohlman, ; Ge, Wang, Xu, & Xie, ; Singh & Kushwaha, ; Zhou et al., ). Therefore, an in‐depth understanding of how geographical patterns in evergreenness and deciduousness are affected by climate will improve our ability to predict how vegetation patterns will respond to future climate change (Ge et al., ; Ouédraogo et al., ; Xie, Wang, & Silander, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographical and climatic gradients of evergreen versus deciduous broad‐leaved tree species in subtropical China: Implications for the definition of the mixed forest

Xie

2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Understanding climatic influences on the proportion of evergreen versus deciduous broad‐leaved tree species in forests is of crucial importance when predicting the impact of climate change on broad‐leaved forests. Here, we quantified the geographical distribution of evergreen versus deciduous broad‐leaved tree species in subtropical China. The Relative Importance Value index (RIV) was used to examine regional patterns in tree species dominance and was related to three key climatic variables: mean annual temperature (MAT), minimum temperature of the coldest month (MinT), and mean annual precipitation (MAP). We found the RIV of evergreen species to decrease with latitude at a lapse rate of 10% per degree between 23.5 and 25°N, 1% per degree at 25–29.1°N, and 15% per degree at 29.1–34°N. The RIV of evergreen species increased with: MinT at a lapse rate of 10% per °C between −4.5 and 2.5°C and 2% per °C at 2.5–10.5°C; MAP at a lapse rate of 10% per 100 mm between 900 and 1,600 mm and 4% per 100 mm between 1,600 and 2,250 mm. All selected climatic variables cumulatively explained 71% of the geographical variation in dominance of evergreen and deciduous broad‐leaved tree species and the climatic variables, ranked in order of decreasing effects were as follows: MinT > MAP > MAT. We further proposed that the latitudinal limit of evergreen and deciduous broad‐leaved mixed forests was 29.1–32°N, corresponding with MAT of 11–18.1°C, MinT of −2.5 to 2.51°C, and MAP of 1,000–1,630 mm. This study is the first quantitative assessment of climatic correlates with the evergreenness and deciduousness of broad‐leaved forests in subtropical China and underscores that extreme cold temperature is the most important climatic determinant of evergreen and deciduous broad‐leaved tree species’ distributions, a finding that confirms earlier qualitative studies. Our findings also offer new insight into the definition and distribution of the mixed forest and an accurate assessment of vulnerability of mixed forests to future climate change.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographical and climatic gradients of evergreen versus deciduous broad‐leaved tree species in subtropical China: Implications for the definition of the mixed forest

Xie

2017

Ecology and Evolution

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“…At the extremes of seasonality, deciduousness is prevalent in forests with extended dry seasons (Ouedraogo et al 2016), whereas continuous leafchange may occur in forests with aseasonal climates (Richards 1996). At the extremes of seasonality, deciduousness is prevalent in forests with extended dry seasons (Ouedraogo et al 2016), whereas continuous leafchange may occur in forests with aseasonal climates (Richards 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal patterns in rainforest litterfall: Detecting endogenous and environmental influences from long‐term sampling

et al. 2017

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Tropical rainforests play an important role in the storage and cycling of global terrestrial carbon. In the carbon cycle, net primary productivity of forests is linked to soil respiration through the production and decomposition of forest litter. Climate seasonality appears to influence the production of litter although there is considerable variability within and across forests that makes accurate estimates challenging. We explored the effects of climate seasonality on litterfall dynamics in a lowland humid rainforest over a 7-year period from 2007 to 2013, including an El Niño/La Niña cycle in 2010/2011. Litterfall was sampled fortnightly in 24 traps of 0.50 m diameter within a 1-ha forest plot. Total mean litterfall was 10.48 AE 1.32 (AESD, dry weight) Mg ha À1 year À1 and seasonal in distribution. The different components of litterfall were divided into L Leaf (63.5%), L Wood (27.7%) and L FF[flowers & fruit] (8.8%), which all demonstrated seasonal dynamics. Peak falls in L Leaf and L Wood were highly predictable, coinciding with maximum daily temperatures and 1 and 2 months prior to maximum monthly rainfall. The El Niño/La Niña cycle coincided with elevated local winter temperatures and peak falls of L Leaf and L Wood . Importantly, we establish how sampling length and generalized additive models eliminate the requirement for extensive within-site sampling when the intention is to describe dynamics in litterfall patterns. Further, a greater understanding of seasonal cycles in litterfall allows us to distinguish between endogenous controls and environmental factors, such as El Niño events, which may have significant impacts on biochemical cycles.

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“…, Ouédraogo et al. , Singh and Chaturvedi ), while a few studies also have already revealed the higher importance of temperature than precipitation seasonality in shaping the deciduousness of forests in the tropics (Cuba et al. , Gaviria et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, a better understanding of how climate shapes the geographic distribution and community assembly of tree species with different leaf habits is crucial to predict the potential dynamics of forest biomes under changing environment conditions (Ouédraogo et al. , Zanne et al. ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Ouédraogo et al. () have investigated the deciduousness of tropical forests in central Africa and identified the crucial role of dry season length. Combined, these previous studies have significantly extended our understanding of the patterns and climatic correlates of evergreenness or deciduousness of forests over a broad geographical scale.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climatic seasonality is linked to the occurrence of the mixed evergreen and deciduous broad‐leaved forests in China

Berg

Xie

2019

Ecosphere

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Evergreen and deciduous broad‐leaved tree species can coexist across the globe and constitute different broad‐leaved forests along large‐scale geographical and climatic gradients. A better understanding of climatic influence on the distribution of mixed evergreen and deciduous broad‐leaved forest is of fundamental importance when assessing this mixed forest's resilience and predicting potential dynamics of broad‐leaved forests under future climate change. Here, we quantified the horizontal distribution of this mixed forest in mountains in relation to climate seasonality by compiling vegetation information from the earlier records and our own field sampling on major subtropical mountains of China. We found that the probability of occurrence of this forest in subtropical mountains was positively associated with the latitude but not the longitude. The occurrence probability of this forest was observed at high‐temperature but not precipitation seasonality mountains. Temperature seasonality was five times more important than precipitation seasonality in explaining the total variation of occurrence of this mixed forest. For its distribution, our results shed light on that temperature seasonality was generally a more powerful predictor than precipitation seasonality for montane mixed forest distribution. Collectively, this study clearly underscores the important role of temperature seasonality, a previously not quantified climatic variable, in the occurrence of this mixed forest along geographical gradients and hence yields useful insight into our understanding of climate–vegetation relationships and climate change vulnerability assessment in a changing climate.

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The determinants of tropical forest deciduousness: disentangling the effects of rainfall and geology in central Africa

Cited by 32 publications

References 54 publications

Geographical and climatic gradients of evergreen versus deciduous broad‐leaved tree species in subtropical China: Implications for the definition of the mixed forest

Geographical and climatic gradients of evergreen versus deciduous broad‐leaved tree species in subtropical China: Implications for the definition of the mixed forest

Seasonal patterns in rainforest litterfall: Detecting endogenous and environmental influences from long‐term sampling

Climatic seasonality is linked to the occurrence of the mixed evergreen and deciduous broad‐leaved forests in China

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