Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T07:29:25.894Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effect of light, seed size and biomass removal on cotyledon reserve use and root mass allocation in Gustavia superba seedlings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2008

Ignacio M. Barberis  and
James W. Dalling
Ignacio M. Barberis*
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Site, CB2 3EA Cambridge, UK
James W. Dalling
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Panamá Department of Plant Biology, 265 Morrill Hall, 505 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
*
1Corresponding author. Present address: CONICET and Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, C.C. 14, S2125ZAA Zavalla, Argentina. Email: ignaciobarberis@yahoo.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Some large-seeded tree species have cotyledonary reserves that persist for months after seedling establishment. We carried out two screened growing-house experiments with seedlings of Gustavia superba (Lecythidaceae) to test hypotheses proposed to explain why cotyledons are retained. We grew seedlings from large and small seeds in sun and shade to determine if cotyledon reserves supplement photosynthetic carbon gain, and in a second experiment applied defoliation and shoot removal treatments to determine if reserves are allocated to resprout tissue. In each experiment we tracked cotyledonary resource use over time and measured the fraction of seedling biomass allocated to roots and shoots. We found no evidence that light environment, seed size or damage treatment affected the rate of cotyledon resource usage; 20% of the cotyledonary mass remained 9 wk after leaves were fully developed in both sun and shade and 25–30% of the cotyledonary mass remained 6 wk after leaf or shoot removal. Instead, cotyledon reserves appear to be slowly translocated to roots regardless of light environment or seedling damage. Once seedlings are established, lost tissue is replaced using reserves stored in roots; in high light, damaged seedlings had a lower root mass fraction (0.42) than undamaged ones (0.56) when considering the mass of tissue removed and resprout tissue combined. We conclude that cotyledon reserves are important for resprouting during early seedling emergence and establishment, but do not directly contribute to seedling growth or biomass recovery from herbivores at the post-establishment stage. Persistence of cotyledons may ultimately depend on the development of sufficient root mass for reserve reallocation.

Keywords

resproutingseedling growthseed reservesshade tolerance
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 24 , Issue 6 , November 2008 , pp. 607 - 617
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

AIDE, T. M. 1991. Synchronous leaf production and herbivory in juveniles of Gustavia superba. Oecologia 88:511–514.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
AIDE, T. M. & LONDOÑO, E. C. 1989. The effects of rapid leaf expansion on the growth and survivorship of a lepidopteran herbivore. Oikos 55:66–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BARALOTO, C. & FORGET, P.-M. 2007. Seed size, seedling morphology, and response to deep shade and damage in neotropical rain forest trees. American Journal of Botany 94:901–911.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
BARALOTO, C., FORGET, P.-M. & GOLDBERG, D. E. 2005. Seed mass, seedling size and neotropical tree seedling establishment. Journal of Ecology 93:1156–1166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BARBERIS, I. M. 2001. Above- and belowground competition for seedlings in a Panamanian moist forest. PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, Cambridge. 246 pp.Google Scholar
BOOT, R. G. A. 1996. The significance of seedling size and growth rate of tropical forest tree seedlings for regeneration in canopy openings. Pp. 267–284 in Swaine, M. D. (ed). The ecology of tropical forest tree seedlings. MAB UNESCO Series Vol. 17. Parthenon, Carnforth.Google Scholar
CANHAM, C. D., KOBE, R. K., LATTY, E. F. & CHAZDON, R. L. 1999. Interspecific and intraspecific variation in tree seedling survival: effects of allocation to roots versus carbohydrate reserves. Oecologia 121:1–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
CLARK, D. B. & CLARK, D. A. 1989. The role of physical damage in the seedling mortality regime of a neotropical rain forest. Oikos 55:225–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CROAT, T. B. 1978. Flora of Barro Colorado Island. Stanford University Press, Stanford. 943 pp.Google Scholar
DALLING, J. W. & HARMS, K. E. 1999. Damage tolerance and cotyledonary resource use in the tropical tree Gustavia superba. Oikos 85:257–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DALLING, J. W., HARMS, K. E. & AIZPRÚA, R. 1997. Seed damage tolerance and seedling resprouting ability of Prioria copaifera in Panamá. Journal of Tropical Ecology 13:481–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EDWARDS, W. & GADEK, P. 2002. Multiple resprouting from diaspores and single cotyledons in the Australian tropical tree species Idiospermum australiense. Journal of Tropical Ecology 18:943–948.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EDWARDS, W., GADEK, P., WEBER, E. & WORBOYS, S. 2001. Idiosyncratic phenomenon of regeneration from cotyledons in the idiot fruit tree, Idiospermum australiense. Austral Ecology 26:254–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FORGET, P.-M. 1992. Seed removal and seed fate in Gustavia superba (Lecythidaceae). Biotropica 24:408–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FOSTER, S. A. 1986. On the adaptive value of large seeds for tropical moist forest trees: a review and synthesis. Botanical Review 52:260–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FOSTER, S. A. & JANSON, C. H. 1985. The relationship between seed size and establishment conditions in tropical woody plants. Ecology 66:773–780.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GREEN, P. T. & JUNIPER, P. A. 2004a. Seed mass, seedling herbivory and the reserve effect in tropical rainforest seedlings. Functional Ecology 18:539–547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GREEN, P. T. & JUNIPER, P. A. 2004b. Seed–seedling allometry in tropical rain forest trees: seed mass-related patterns of resource allocation and the ‘reserve effect’. Journal of Ecology 92:397–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HAMMOND, D. S. & BROWN, V. K. 1995. Seed size of woody plants in relation to disturbance, dispersal, soil type in wet neotropical forests. Ecology 76:2544–2561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HARMS, K. E. & AIELLO, A. 1995. Seed-boring by tropical clearwing moths (Sesiidae): aberrant behavior or widespread habit? Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 49:43–48.Google Scholar
HARMS, K. E. & DALLING, J. W. 1997. Damage and herbivory tolerance through resprouting as an advantage of large seed size in tropical trees and lianas. Journal of Tropical Ecology 13:617–621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HARMS, K. E., DALLING, J. W. & AIZPRÚA, R. 1997. Regeneration from cotyledons in Gustavia superba (Lecythidaceae). Biotropica 29:234–237.Google Scholar
HARRINGTON, M. G., GADEK, P. A. & EDWARDS, W. 2005. The potential for predation induced somatic embryogenesis in storage cotyledons. Oikos 111:215–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ICHIE, T., NINOMIYA, I. & OGINO, K. 2001. Utilization of seed reserves during germination and early seedling growth by Dryobalanops lanceolata (Dipterocarpaceae). Journal of Tropical Ecology 17:371–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KELLY, C. K. 1995. Seed size in tropical trees: a comparative study of factors affecting seed size in Peruvian angiosperms. Oecologia 102:377–388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KITAJIMA, K. 1992. Relationship between photosynthesis and thickness of cotyledons for tropical tree species. Functional Ecology 6:582–589.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LEIGH, E. G. 1999. Tropical forest ecology. A view from Barro Colorado Island. Oxford University Press, New York. 264 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LEISHMAN, M. R., WRIGHT, I. J., MOLES, A. T. & WESTOBY, M. 2000. The evolutionary ecology of seed size. Pp. 31–57 in Fenner, M. (ed.). Seeds: the ecology of regeneration in plant communities. CAB International, Wallingford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LÓPEZ, O. R. & KURSAR, T. A. 1999. Flood tolerance of four tropical tree species. Tree Physiology 19:925–932.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MACK, A. L. 1998. An advantage of large seed size: tolerating rather than succumbing to seed predators. Biotropica 30:604–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
METCALFE, D. J. & GRUBB, P. J. 1995. Seed mass and light requirements for regeneration in Southeast Asian rain forest. Canadian Journal of Botany 73:817–826.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MOLOFSKY, J. & AUGSPURGER, C. K. 1992. The effect of leaf litter on early seedling establishment in a tropical forest. Ecology 73:68–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MOLOFSKY, J. & FISHER, B. L. 1993. Habitat and predation effects on seedling survival and growth in shade-tolerant tropical trees. Ecology 74:261–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MYERS, J. A. & KITAJIMA, K. 2007. Carbohydrate storage enhances seedling shade and stress tolerance in a neotropical forest. Journal of Ecology 95:383–395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OSUNKOYA, O. O., ASH, J. E., HOPKINS, M. S. & GRAHAM, A. W. 1994. Influence of seed size and seedling ecological attributes on shade-tolerance of rain-forest tree species in northern Queensland. Journal of Ecology 82:149–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PRANCE, G. T. & MORI, S. A. 1979. Lecythidaceae. Flora Neotropica Monograph 21:1–270.Google Scholar
ROSE, S. A. & POORTER, L. 2003. The importance of seed mass for early regeneration in tropical forest: a review. Pp. 19–35 in ter Steege, H. (ed.). Long-term changes in tropical tree diversity: studies from the Guiana Shield, Africa, Borneo and Melanesia. Tropenbos International, Wageningen.Google Scholar
SORK, V. L. 1985. Germination response in a large-seeded Neotropical tree species, Gustavia superba (Lecythidaceae). Biotropica 17:130–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SORK, V. L. 1987. Effects of predation and light on seedling establishment in Gustavia superba. Ecology 68:1341–1350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TER STEEGE, H., BOKDAM, C., BOLAND, M., DOBBELSTEEN, J. & VERBURG, I. 1994. The effects of man made gaps on germination, early survival, and morphology of Chlorocardium rodiei seedlings in Guyana. Journal of Tropical Ecology 10:245–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TYREE, M. T., VÉLEZ, V. & DALLING, J. W. 1998. Growth dynamics of root and shoot hydraulic conductance in seedlings of five neotropical tree species: scaling to show possible adaptation to differing light regimes. Oecologia 114:293–298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
WEINER, J. 2004. Allocation, plasticity and allometry in plants. Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics 6:207–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WESTOBY, M., LEISHMAN, M. R. & LORD, J. 1996. Comparative ecology of seed size and dispersal. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (B) 351:1309–1318.Google Scholar
WRIGHT, S. D. & MCCONNAUGHAY, K. D. M. 2002. Interpreting phenotypic plasticity: the importance of ontogeny. Plant Species Biology 17:119–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar