Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T15:19:52.783Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Internal heterogeneity of gaps and species richness in Costa Rican tropical wet forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Aldo Brandani ,
Gary S. Hartshorn  and
Gordon H. Orians
Aldo Brandani
Affiliation:
Institute for Environmental Studies and Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
Gary S. Hartshorn
Affiliation:
Institute for Environmental Studies and Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
Gordon H. Orians
Affiliation:
Institute for Environmental Studies and Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In Costa Rican tropical wet forest the distribution of seedlings of most tree species colonizing 51 tree-fall gaps is clumped, probably because of differences in the proximity of gaps to fruiting trees. Different gap zones (root, bole and crown) are more similar to one another, in terms of their species composition, than they are to other zones in the same gap. This nonrandom pattern is established soon after gap formation, indicating that mortality of young seedlings is both high and related to gap zones. Some tree species are strongly positively associated with one of the gap zones, whereas others are associated with the age of the gap at the time the census was taken or the species of tree whose fall caused the gap. Root zones are dominated by fewer species than are bole or crown zones. Results are consistent with the assumption that an initial random distribution of seedlings is quickly changed to a strongly non-random pattern by selective mortality of seedlings of different tree species in the different gap zones. The internal heterogeneity of gaps is probably one of the factors helping to maintain the high tree species richness characteristic of tropical wet forests.

Keywords

Costa RicadisturbancediversitygapsLa Selvapatchy environmentsspecies richnesstree-fallstropical forests
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , May 1988 , pp. 99 - 119
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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

Baker, H. G. 1970. Evolution in the tropics. Biotropica. 2:101–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, H. G. & Baker, I. 1975. Studies of nectar-constitution and pollinator-plant coevolution. Pp. 100–140 in Gilbert, L. E. & Raven, P. H. (eds). Coevolution of animals and plants. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourgeois, W. W., Cole, D. W., Riekerk, H. & Gessel, S. P. 1972. Geology and soils of comparative ecosystem study areas, Costa Rica. University of Washington, College of Forestry Resources, Contr. No. 11.Google Scholar
Brokaw, N. V. L. 1982. Treefalls: frequency, timing, and consequences. Pp. 101–108 in Leigh, E. G. Jr, Rand, A. S. & Windsor, D. M. (eds). The ecology of a neotropical forest: seasonal rythms and long-term changes. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Brokaw, N. V. L. 1985. Treefalls, regrowth, and community structure in tropical forests. Pp. 53–69 in Picket, S. T. A. & White, P. S. (eds). The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Brown, K. S. & Ab'Saber, A. N. 1979. Ice-age forest refuges and evolution in the neotropics. Paleoclimas 5:1–10.Google Scholar
Bultman, J. D. & Southwell, C. R. 1976. Natural resistance of tropical American woods to terrestrial wood-destroying organisms. Biotropica 8:71–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, D. A. & Clark, D. B. 1984. Spacing dynamics of a tropical rain forest tree: evaluation of the Janzen-Connell Model. American Naturalist 124:769–788.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connell, J. H. 1971. On the role of natural enemies in preventing competitive exclusion in some marine animals and in rain forest trees. Pp. 298–312 in den Boer, P. J. & Gradwell, G. (eds). Dynamics of populations. Centre for Agricultural Publication and Documentation, Wageningen, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Connell, J. H. 1978. Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 199:1302–1310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Connell, J. H. & Orias, E. 1964. The ecological regulation of species diversity. American Naturalist 98:399–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denslow, J. S. 1980. Gap partitioning among tropical rainforest trees. Biotropica 12 (supplement:47–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diamond, J. M. 1972. Comparison of faunal equilibrium turnover rates on a tropical and a temperate island. National Academy of Science Proceedings 68:2742–2745.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobzhansky, T. 1950. Evolution in the tropics. American Scientist, 38:209–221.Google Scholar
Fleming, T. H. 1973. Numbers of mammal species in North and Central American forest communities. Ecology 54:555–563.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frankie, G. W., Baker, H. G. & Opler, P. A. 1974. Comparative phenological studies of trees in tropical wet and dry forests in lowlands of Costa Rica. Journal of Ecology 62:881–919.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garwood, N. C., Janos, D. P. & Brokaw, N. 1979. Earthquake-caused landslides: a major disturbance to tropical forests. Science 205:997–999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haffer, J. 1969. Speciation in Amazonian forest birds. Science 165:131–137.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hartshorn, G. S. 1978. Tree falls and tropical forest dynamics. Pp. 617–638 in Tomlinson, P. B. & Zimmerman, M. H. (eds). Tropical trees as living systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hartshorn, G. S. 1983. Plants: introduction. Pp. 118–157injanzen, D. H. (ed.). Costa Rican natural history. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hartshorn, G. S. & Poveda, L. J. 1983. Plants: checklist of trees. Pp. 158–183injanzen, D. H. (ed.). Costa Rican natural history. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Holdridge, L. R., Grenke, W. C., Hatheway, W. H., Liang, T. & Tosi, J. A. Jr, 1971. Forest environments in tropical life zones: a pilot study. Pergamon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. 1970. Herbivores and the number of tree species in tropical forests. American Naturalist 104:501–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janzen, D. H. 1971a. Escape of juvenile Dioclea megacarpa (Leguminosae) vines from predators in a deciduous tropical forest. American Naturalist 105:97–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janzen, D. H. 1971b. Euglossine bees as long distance pollinators of tropical plants Science 171:203–205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Janzen, D. H. 1978. Seedling patterns of tropical trees. Pp. 83–128 in Tomlinson, P. B. & Zimmerman, M. H. (eds). Tropical trees as living systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Knight, D. H. 1975. An analysis of late secondary succession in species rich tropical forest. Pp. 53–59 in Golley, F. B. & Medina, E. (eds). Tropical ecological systems; trends in terrestrial and aquatic research. Springer-Verlag, New York.Google Scholar
Lieberman, M., Lieberman, D., Hartshorn, G. & Peralta, R. 1985. Small-scale altitudinal variation in lowland wet tropical forest vegetation. Journal of Ecology 73:505–516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacArthur, R. 1965. Patterns of species diversity. Biological Review 40:510–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacArthur, R. 1969. Patterns of communities in the tropics. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 1:19–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nie, N. H., Hull, C. H. & Jenkins, J. G. et al. (eds). 1975. Statistical package for social sciences, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Orians, G. H. 1983. The influence of tree-falls in tropical forests on free species richness. Tropical Ecology 23:255–279.Google Scholar
Orloci, L., Rao, C. R. & Stiteler, W. M. (eds). 1979. Multivariate methods in ecological work. Statistical Ecology Series, International Co-operative Publishing House, New York.Google Scholar
Paine, R. T. 1966. Food web complexity and species diversity. American Naturalist 100:65–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paine, R. T. 1969. The Pisaster-Tegula interaction: prey patches, predator food preference and intertidal community structure. Ecology 50:950–961.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pease, W. T. H. & MacDonald, F. D. 1981. An investigation of the leaf anatomy, foliar mineral levels, and water relations of trees of a Sarawak forest. Biotropica 12:100–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pianka, E. R. 1966. Latitudinal gradients in species diversity: a review of concepts. American Naturalist 100:33–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pielou, E. C. 1977. Mathematical ecology. Wiley-Interscience, New York.Google Scholar
Pielou, E. C. 1978. Population and community ecology: principles and methods. Gordon and Breach, New York.Google Scholar
Ricklefs, R. E. 1977. Environmental heterogeneity and plant species diversity: a hypothesis. American Naturalist 111:376–381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simson-Vuilleuimier, B. 1971. Pleistocene changes in the fauna and flora of South America. Science 173:771–780.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slatkin, M. 1974. Competition and regional coexistence. Ecology 55:128–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strong, D. R. Jr, 1977. Epiphyte loads, tree falls, and perennial disruption: a mechanism for maintaining higher tree species richness in the tropics without animals. Journal of Biogeography 4:215–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutherland, J. P. 1974. Multiple stable points in natural communities. American Naturalist 108:859–873.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhl, C. & Murphy, P. G. 1981. Composition, structure and regeneration of tierra firme forest in the Amazon basin of Venezuela. Tropical Ecology 22:219–237.Google Scholar
White, P. S. 1979. Pattern, process and natural disturbance in vegetation. Botanical Review 45:229–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitmore, T. C. 1978. Gaps in the forest canopy. Pp. 639–656 in Tomlinson, P. B. & Zimmerman, M. H. (eds). Tropical trees as living systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Zenio, R. N. & Simmons, S. A. 1981. Interpretation of research data: other multivariate methods. American Journal of Hospital Pharm. 38:369–376.Google Scholar