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Effects of forest fragmentation on the recruitment success of the tropical tree Poulsenia armata at Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2014

Jenny Zambrano ,
Rosamond Coates  and
Henry F. Howe
Jenny Zambrano*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 W. Taylor St. (M/C 066), Chicago, Illinois 60706, USA
Rosamond Coates
Affiliation:
Los Tuxtlas Tropical Biological Station, Institute of Biology, UNAM, Apartado Postal 94, San Andres Tuxtla, Veracruz, CP 95701, Mexico
Henry F. Howe
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 W. Taylor St. (M/C 066), Chicago, Illinois 60706, USA
*
1 Corresponding author. Email: jzambr3@uic.edu
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Abstract:

Recruitment success of individual plants is limited by an array of biotic and abiotic factors. Seedling survival may experience high mortality due to negative density dependence or altered microclimatic conditions. This study reports regeneration of Poulsenia armata (Moraceae), in the fragmented landscape of the Los Tuxtlas region in south-eastern Mexico. Density, survival and growth of seedlings (<1 y) and juveniles (<150 cm height) of P. armata were predicted to be significantly lower in forest fragments compared with extensive continuous forest. Contrary to expectation, density did not vary between habitats; however, we found twice the number of seedlings (n = 82) in forest fragments than in the continuous forest (n = 35). Forest fragments were associated with higher seedling densities close to adult trees. Unexpectedly, we found no evidence for negative density dependence in plant survival or growth. Survival and growth of P. armata were negatively impacted in forest fragments, with desiccation by warmer daily temperatures likely the cause of mortality, independent of density. Of the 111 individuals recorded in 2010 in forest fragments, 38% died over 2 y of census (n = 42), while 9% (n = 12) of the 127 individuals from the continuous forest died. Higher rates of mortality suggest that conditions in forest fragments are detrimental to seedling cohorts over time. Low juvenile recruitment jeopardizes persistence of P. armata, in fragmented populations of this rain-forest tree.

Keywords

abiotic conditiondispersal limitationnegative density dependencerecruitment limitationtropical rain forest
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , May 2014 , pp. 209 - 218
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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References

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