Uniting niche differentiation and dispersal limitation predicts tropical forest succession

Dent, Daisy H.; Estrada‐Villegas, Sergio

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2021.04.001

Cited by 29 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…light-demanding tree species, litter quality, organic matter, secondary succession, shade tolerance, soil carbon storage, tree functional groups, tropical forest regrowth factors (Baldeck et al, 2013;Chazdon, 2014;Dent & Estrada-Villegas, 2021;Norden et al, 2015;Turner et al, 1998). The lack of a predictable transition from light-demanding pioneer species to shade-tolerant late-successional forest trees during secondary succession would be reflected in plant C inputs to the soil and could therefore explain why soil C stocks do not necessarily increase with secondary forest age.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil carbon storage is related to tree functional composition in naturally regenerating tropical forests

et al. 2022

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil carbon storage is related to tree functional composition in naturally regenerating tropical forests

et al. 2022

Self Cite

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“…Finally, and contrary to our predictions, bat dispersal was not important throughout the sampling period. Dispersal by bats is key during the first years of succession [9,14,16,38], so perhaps we missed their contribution to the plant community at the onset of regeneration given that the youngest forests were already 20 years old when our sampling began. Studies assessing seed dispersal by animals in the first 20 years of regeneration indicate that bats and small birds are the most important dispersers [11,14,16,38,56,58].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further studies should focus on how seed dispersal redundancy changes during the first decades of regrowth. Considering the long history of studies assessing seed dispersal in the tropics [9,59], we propose a list of parameters that could be incorporated into forest restoration planning and monitoring to help researchers and practitioners evaluate the speed of ecological recovery during tropical restoration. Low-tier parameters require minimal expert knowledge at linking animal dispersers and their food plants and are relatively cheap and easy to measure (table 1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on previous studies [9], we expected that the importance of seed dispersal by small birds, bats and abiotic means should show higher prevalence than large birds and flightless mammals and decline over time during regeneration. As forests gain structural complexity and continue ageing, seed dispersal by flightless mammals and large birds should become more important than other dispersal modes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As forests gain structural complexity and continue ageing, seed dispersal by flightless mammals and large birds should become more important than other dispersal modes. As flightless mammals and large birds increase in abundance and disperse more shade-tolerant species, small-bodied dispersers and the plants they disperse should decrease in abundance [9]. In addition, the likelihood of a single plant species being dispersed by multiple dispersal modes (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Animal seed dispersal recovery during passive restoration in a forested landscape

Estrada‐Villegas

Stevenson

López

et al. 2022

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Seed dispersal by animals is key for restoration of tropical forests because it maintains plant diversity and accelerates community turnover. Therefore, changes in seed dispersal during forest restoration can indicate the recovery of species interactions, and yet these changes are rarely considered in forest restoration planning. In this study, we examined shifts in the importance of different seed dispersal modes during passive restoration in a tropical chronosequence spanning more than 100 years, by modelling the proportion of trees dispersed by bats, small birds, large birds, flightless mammals and abiotic means as a function of forest age. Contrary to expectations, tree species dispersed by flightless mammals dominated after 20 years of regeneration, and tree richness and abundance dispersed by each mode mostly recovered to old growth levels between 40 and 70 years post-abandonment. Seed dispersal by small birds declined over time during regeneration, while bat dispersal played a minor role throughout all stages of succession. Results suggest that proximity to old growth forests, coupled with low hunting, explained the prevalence of seed dispersal by animals, especially by flightless mammals at this site. We suggest that aspects of seed dispersal should be monitored when restoring forest ecosystems to evaluate the reestablishment of species interactions. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Understanding forest landscape restoration: reinforcing scientific foundations for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration’.

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A flash in the pan? The population dynamics of a dominant pioneer species in tropical dry forest succession

Dávila‐Hernández,

Meave,

Muñoz

et al. 2024

Population Ecology

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Globally, around half of all tropical forests are secondary communities which are recovering from previous disturbances. In these communities, dominant pioneers play a critical role in the successional dynamics due their ability to modify the environment, and thus to facilitate or hinder the performance of other species. In this study, we examined the population dynamics of the dominant pioneer species, Mimosa acantholoba var. eurycarpa, in a tropical dry forest during the process of secondary succession. We collected data from permanent plots over a period of 13 years and used integral projection models to analyze the vital rates and changes in population size. Most vital rates were negatively related to successional age, with resprouting, survival and recruitment of individuals responding more strongly, and individual growth rate more weakly. These vital‐rate trends translated into significant variation of population size over succession, with a maximum size at year four and a rapid decline thereafter. Overall, our findings suggest that this species benefits from its ability to display a large number of resprouts in very early stages of succession, contributing to the rapid increase in population density. However, as succession unfolds, a lack of resprouting and a decline in survival reduce its population size, to the point of local extinction. These results highlight the importance of resprouting in the early dynamics of tropical dry forest communities recovering from disturbance.

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Uniting niche differentiation and dispersal limitation predicts tropical forest succession

Cited by 29 publications

References 70 publications

Soil carbon storage is related to tree functional composition in naturally regenerating tropical forests

Soil carbon storage is related to tree functional composition in naturally regenerating tropical forests

Animal seed dispersal recovery during passive restoration in a forested landscape

A flash in the pan? The population dynamics of a dominant pioneer species in tropical dry forest succession

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