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A field experiment to determine the effect of dry-season irrigation on vegetative and reproductive traits in the wet-deciduous tree Bonellia nervosa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2019

Octavio Sánchez Open the ORCID record for Octavio Sánchez [Opens in a new window] ,
Mauricio Quesada ,
Rodolfo Dirzo  and
Carl D. Schlichting
Octavio Sánchez
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, UNAM, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro 8701, Col. Ex-Hacienda de San José de La Huerta 58190, Morelia, Michoacán, México
Mauricio Quesada*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, UNAM, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro 8701, Col. Ex-Hacienda de San José de La Huerta 58190, Morelia, Michoacán, México Laboratorio Nacional de Análisis y Síntesis Ecológica para la Conservación de Recursos Genéticos, Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Unidad Morelia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia Michoacán 58190México
Rodolfo Dirzo
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Stanford University, 385 Serra Mall Stanford, CA 94305-5020, USA
Carl D. Schlichting
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut75, N. Eagleville Road, U-43 Storrs, CT, USA
*
Author for correspondence:*Mauricio Quesada, Email: mquesada@cieco.unam.mx
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Abstract

Seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTFs) stand out by the diversity of phenological patterns used by plants to deal with dry periods. Although the predominant phenological pattern is dry deciduousness, in Mesoamerican SDTFs the heliophilous tree species Bonellia (formerly Jacquinia) nervosa displays an unusual inverted leaf phenology, producing and holding leaves through the dry season while becoming deciduous in the rainy season. Applying a dry season irrigation field experiment (no water, low watering, high watering), we studied the consequences of contrasting water availability from a phenological plasticity response perspective. Contrary to our expectations, our results show no effect of irrigation treatment on leaf phenology. In addition, mid-day twig water potential showed no significant differences across treatments, but reproductive phenological responses varied among treatments: canopy flowering per cent decreased gradually until the beginning of the wet season in all treatments; meanwhile canopy fruit per cent showed a significant decline under low irrigation. Finally, non-structural carbohydrate concentration (starch) was significantly higher in the high irrigation treatment. Our results showed that inverted leaf phenology remains unaffected regardless of supplemental water availability, and suggest a reallocation of non-structural carbohydrates to fruits and seeds in high-irrigation treatments. Given the current and expected increase in extreme drought events, investigations on the responses of trees of different phenologies, including those of inverted leafing such as Bonellia nervosa, are warranted.

Keywords

Chamelainverted leaf phenologyirrigationMexicophenologyseasonally dry tropical forest
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 29 - 35
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

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