Climate and soil drive forest structure in Bolivian lowland forests

• Published in: Journal of tropical ecology 2011-07, Vol.27 (4), p.333-345
• Main Authors: Toledo, Marisol, Poorter, Lourens, Peña-Claros, Marielos, Alarcón, Alfredo, Balcázar, Julio, Leaño, Claudio, Licona, Juan Carlos, Bongers, Frans
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Climate; Climate science; costa-rica; diversity; dry forest; dynamics; Environmental factors; Environmental gradient; floristic composition; Forest canopy; Forest ecology; Forest soils; Forests; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; liana communities; Moisture content; national-park; patterns; Rain; Rainfall; Retention capacity; Soil fertility; Soil texture; Soil water; Stems; Synecology; Terrestrial ecosystems; tree density; Trees; Tropical forests; Tropical rain forests; tropical rain-forest; Water availability; Woody vines
• ISSN: 0266-4674; 1469-7831
• DOI: 10.1017/S0266467411000034

Climate is one of the most important factors determining variation in forest structure, but whether soils have independent effects is less clear. We evaluate how climate and soil independently affect forest structure, using 89 200 stems ≥ 10 cm dbh from 220 1-ha permanent plots distributed along environmental gradients in lowland Bolivia. Fifteen forest structural variables, related to vertical structure (forest height and layering), horizontal structure (basal area, median and the 99th percentile of the stem diameter and size-class distribution) and density of life forms (tree, palm and liana), were evaluated. Environmental variables were summarized in four multivariate axes, related to rainfall, temperature, soil fertility and soil texture. Multiple regression indicates that all structural variables were affected by one or more of the environmental axes, but the explained variation was generally low (median R2 = 0.15). Rainfall and soil texture affected most forest structural variables (respectively 87% and 80%) and had qualitatively similar effects. This suggests that plant water availability, as determined by rainfall and soil water retention capacity, is the strongest driver of forest structure, whereas soil fertility was a weaker driver of forest structure, affecting 53% of the variables. Maximum forest height, palm density, total basal area and liana infestation showed the strongest responses to environmental variation (with R2 ranging from 0.31–0.82). Forest height, palm density and total basal area increased with plant water availability, while liana infestation decreased with plant water availability. Therefore, multiple rather than single environmental factors must be used to explain the structure of tropical forests.