Sapling Survival, Growth, and Recruitment: Relationship to Canopy Height in a Neotropical Forest

Treefall gaps are through to contribute to the diversity of plants in tropical forests by providing opportunities for niche differentiation in modes of regeneration. To examine this hypothesis, we studied the survival, diameter growth, and recruitment of saplings in @>100 species of woody plants...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology (Durham) 1991-02, Vol.72 (1), p.35-50
Main Authors: Welden, Charles W., Hewett, Steven W., Hubbell, Stephen P., Foster, Robin B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Forest canopy
Forest ecology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Physical growth
Plant ecology
Plant growth
Plants
Saplings
Species
Survival rates
Trees
Tropical forests
Understory
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Summary:Treefall gaps are through to contribute to the diversity of plants in tropical forests by providing opportunities for niche differentiation in modes of regeneration. To examine this hypothesis, we studied the survival, diameter growth, and recruitment of saplings in @>100 species of woody plants in a 50-ha permanent plot of moist tropical forest on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, from 1982 to 1985. The performance of saplings in low-canopy sites (10 m), and performance of common species was compared to that of rare species. Of the 108 species for which all three parameters of performance were measured, 104 fell into four response groups, each with characteristic patterns of survival, growth, recruitment, and response to canopy height. Pioneers (six species) survived poorly in both canopy-height categories, and survivors grew rapidly in low-canopy sites. Sapling recruitment was skewed toward low-canopy sites. Understory specialists (three species) survived well in high-canopy sites and poorly in low-canopy sites. They grew slowly and recruited poorly in both situations. Generalists (79 species) survived well and grew slowly in both canopy-height categories. Per-adult recruitment was usually low, and often skewed toward low-canopy sites. Poorly performing species (16 species) survived poorly, grew slowly, and recruited infrequently in both canopy-height categories. Most of the common (>10 saplings/ha) species appeared to be generalists. Many rare (
ISSN:0012-9658
1939-9170
DOI:10.2307/1938900