Woody understory plant diversity in pure and mixed native tree plantations at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica

Forest regeneration under Tectona grandis and Terminalia amazonia plantation stands managed for biodiversity conservation in western Panama

“…2 and 3). Since Terminalia has been shown to foster forest regeneration compared to unplanted abandoned pastureland (Cusack and Montagnini 2004;Butler et al 2008), our results are inconsistent with the common assumption that Tectona suppresses forest regeneration in its understory. Both crop species developed stem densities within the range of similarly aged (7 years-old) experimental plantations of native tree species in Costa Rica (0.01-25.86 m -2 ; Powers et al 1997).…”

“…(Hereafter, the two focal crop species are referred to by genus name.) Experimental and commercial plantations of Terminalia have been shown to encourage recruitment of seedlings in the understory compared to unplanted areas (Cusack and Montagnini 2004;Butler et al 2008). We predicted that if Tectona inhibits understory regeneration, then the understory in stands of Tectona would have lower density of woody stems, stems with smaller stature, and lower species richness compared to stands of Terminalia.…”

Neotropical rainforest restoration: comparing passive, plantation and nucleation approaches

“…Moreover, tropical forest restoration may be governed more by the diversity of functional groups (e.g., nitrogen fixers, slow-and fastgrowing, canopy architecture and fauna attracting) than simply the number of tree species used in a plantation (Lamb et al 2005;Young et al 2005). Planting a higher diversity of trees species does not necessarily lead to higher diversity of regenerating trees in the understory (Butler et al 2008;Chazdon 2014). Overall, a reference number of tree species that should be reintroduced in large-scale high diversity plantations with a goal of restoring the original biodiversity requires further studies using cost-benefit analysis (Rodrigues et al 2009).…”

Payments for Environmental Services in Latin America as a Tool for Restoration and Rural Development

“…Biomass and carbon accumulation were initially estimated when thinning the plantations and using allometric equations thereafter. In order to monitor biodiversity, natural regeneration of tree species in the plantation understory (Butler et al 2008) and Lepidoptera abundance and species richness (Magellan et al 2010) were evaluated and compared to control plots of unplanted degraded pasture. Records were kept of costs involved in plantation establishment and management, including the cost of seedlings, and labor for planting, weeding and thinning (Piotto et al 2010).…”

“…Mixed plantations had carbon stocks similar to or greater than those of pure plantations because well-planned mixed plantations allow the complementary use of resources such as light, nutrients, and space by different species. Figure 3 shows summarized results of biodiversity monitoring including natural regeneration of tree species in the plantation understory (Butler et al 2008) and Lepidoptera abundance and species richness (Magellan et al 2010) comparing both to control plots of unplanted degraded pasture. Carbon stocks are also shown in Fig.…”