Tree Diversity in Tropical Rain Forests: A Validation of the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis

The "intermediate disturbance hypothesis," which postulates maximum diversity at intermediate regimes of disturbance, has never been clearly proved to apply to species-rich tropical forest tree communities and to local-scale canopy disturbances that modify light environments. This hypothes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2001-11, Vol.294 (5547), p.1702-1704
Main Authors: Molino, Jean-François, Sabatier, Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Biodiversity
Biological and medical sciences
Biological diversity
Community Relations
Ecosystem
Environmental Sciences
Forest canopy
Forest regeneration
Forest trees
Forestry
French Guiana
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General forest ecology
Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology
Germination
Independent Study
Light
Models, Biological
Muscular atrophy
Rain forest ecology
Rain forests
Rainforests
Reproducibility of Results
Seasons
Seeds - physiology
Soil
Species diversity
Stems
Sunlight
Synecology
Terrestrial ecosystems
Time Factors
Trees
Trees - growth & development
Trees - physiology
Tropical Climate
Tropical forests
Tropical rain forests
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Summary:The "intermediate disturbance hypothesis," which postulates maximum diversity at intermediate regimes of disturbance, has never been clearly proved to apply to species-rich tropical forest tree communities and to local-scale canopy disturbances that modify light environments. This hypothesis was tested on a sample of 17,000 trees in a Guianan forest, 10 years after a silvicultural experiment that added to natural treefall gaps a wide range of disturbance intensities. Species richness, standardized to eliminate density effects, peaked at intermediate disturbance levels, particularly when disturbance intensity was estimated through the percentage of stems of strongly light-dependent species.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1060284