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Analysis of a supra-annual cycle: reproductive phenology of the palm Oenocarpus bataua in a forest of the Colombian Andes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

Rosario Rojas-Robles  and
F. Gary Stiles
Rosario Rojas-Robles*
Affiliation:
Department of Forestry Science, National University of Colombia, Medellin, Calle 54 # 64–50 Medellin
F. Gary Stiles
Affiliation:
Institute of Natural Sciences, National University of Colombia, Bogotá, Carrera 30 # 45–03 Bogotá, Colombia
*
1Corresponding author. Email: mrrojas@unal.edu.co/mrrojas@unalmed.edu.co
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Abstract:

During a 4-y study of the palm Oenocarpus bataua, 368 reproductive structures on 102 palms were monitored. A reproductive structure required nearly 2 y for successful completion, from bud to ripe fruit. We found correlations with summed rainfall and averaged relative humidity and/or solar radiation for initiation of bud appearance, flowering and fruit maturation over 0–4 mo prior to the events, and another set of correlations over longer periods up to 11–12 mo before. Climatic variables showing short-term correlations (apparently triggering an event) often differed from those showing long-term correlations (which presumably initiated developmental processes culminating in the event itself). A high degree of asynchrony occurred in production of reproductive structures both within and between individual palms even within major reproductive peaks, and there were pronounced differences between individuals in total reproductive effort. Nearly all palms passed 1–3 y with little or no reproduction despite similar environmental conditions between years. We conclude that the supra-annual cycle of this palm is not the result of inadequate environmental cues in some years. There appear to be at least two different types of supra-annual cycles in tropical plants, differing in the relative importance of extrinsic cues vs. intrinsic physiological rhythms and in intrapopulation synchrony.

Keywords

floweringfruitingindividual phenologypopulation phenologyreproductive structuressupra-annual patternssynchrony
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 41 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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