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Long-term growth patterns of juvenile trees from a Bolivian tropical moist forest: shifting investments in diameter growth and height growth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

Danaë M.A. Rozendaal ,
Heinjo J. During ,
Frank J. Sterck ,
Daan Asscheman ,
Jeroen Wiegeraad  and
Pieter A. Zuidema
Danaë M.A. Rozendaal*
Affiliation:
Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80084, 3508 TB, Utrecht, the Netherlands Programa de Manejo de Bosques de la Amazonía Boliviana (PROMAB) – Universidad Autónoma de Beni (UAB), P.O. Box 107, Riberalta, Bolivia Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, the Netherlands
Heinjo J. During
Affiliation:
Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80084, 3508 TB, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Frank J. Sterck
Affiliation:
Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, the Netherlands
Daan Asscheman
Affiliation:
Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80084, 3508 TB, Utrecht, the Netherlands Programa de Manejo de Bosques de la Amazonía Boliviana (PROMAB) – Universidad Autónoma de Beni (UAB), P.O. Box 107, Riberalta, Bolivia
Jeroen Wiegeraad
Affiliation:
Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80084, 3508 TB, Utrecht, the Netherlands Programa de Manejo de Bosques de la Amazonía Boliviana (PROMAB) – Universidad Autónoma de Beni (UAB), P.O. Box 107, Riberalta, Bolivia
Pieter A. Zuidema
Affiliation:
Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80084, 3508 TB, Utrecht, the Netherlands Programa de Manejo de Bosques de la Amazonía Boliviana (PROMAB) – Universidad Autónoma de Beni (UAB), P.O. Box 107, Riberalta, Bolivia Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, the Netherlands
*
1 Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Biology, University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK, S4S 0A2, Canada. Email: danaerozendaal@gmail.com
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Abstract:

Juvenile tropical trees grow from the shaded understorey to the high-light conditions of the canopy, but actual height growth trajectories towards the canopy remain unknown. Although height growth is the determining factor for reaching the canopy, investment in diameter growth is needed to sustain mechanical stability. We quantified variation in long-term juvenile tree growth patterns in diameter and height within three Bolivian moist forest species, and evaluated whether diameter growth and height growth were related. We reconstructed lifetime growth in diameter and height for 21–27 juvenile trees per species by measuring tree rings at various heights in the stem. Growth in diameter and height strongly varied among and within tree species. The light-demanding species Cedrelinga cateniformis needed just 6–19 y to reach a height of 3 m, while the more shade-tolerant species Clarisia racemosa and Peltogyne cf. heterophylla needed 8–39 y and 13–43 y, respectively. Diameter growth and height growth were not, or just weakly, positively related, and trees of the same height displayed a wide range in stem diameter. Our results indicate that trees of all three species shifted investment in diameter growth and height growth over time, most likely in response to variation in light levels.

Keywords

allocationallometryBoliviadiameter growthjuvenile treesheight growthtree ringstropical moist forest
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 31 , Issue 6 , November 2015 , pp. 519 - 529
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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References

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