Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T14:00:52.179Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Microhabitat specialization of tropical rain-forest canopy trees in the Sovi Basin, Viti Levu, Fiji Islands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2011

Gunnar Keppel ,
Marika V. Tuiwawa ,
Alifereti Naikatini  and
Isaac A. Rounds
Gunnar Keppel*
Affiliation:
Curtin Institute for Biodiversity and Climate, Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
Marika V. Tuiwawa
Affiliation:
South Pacific Regional Herbarium, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji
Alifereti Naikatini
Affiliation:
South Pacific Regional Herbarium, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji
Isaac A. Rounds
Affiliation:
Conservation International-Fiji, Pacific Islands Programme, 3 Ma'afu Street, Suva, Fiji
*
1Corresponding author. Email: g.keppel@curtin.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Island biotas often have lower species diversity and less intense competition has been hypothesized as a result. This should result in lower habitat specificity compared with mainland habitats due to larger realized niches. We investigate microhabitat associations of canopy trees with regard to differences in topography on an oceanic island (Viti Levu, Fiji) using twenty 10 × 60-m plots. We find high tree-species diversity (112 species with dbh ≥ 10 cm in a total of 1.08 ha) and high endemism (c. 60%), compared with other islands in Western Polynesia. Our sample plots aggregate into three distinct groups that are mostly defined by micro-topography: (1) ridges and steep slopes (well-drained sites), (2) moderate slopes and ridge flats (moderate drainage), and (3) flats (poor drainage). Associations with microhabitat are found for more than 50% of the 41 most common species but only one species is apparently restricted to a single habitat. These findings are similar to other rain forests and demonstrate considerable niche differentiation among island rain-forest tree species.

Keywords

Fijihabitat differentiationislandsPacificrain forestSovi Basinspecies diversitytopography
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 27 , Issue 5 , September 2011 , pp. 491 - 501
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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

BAYLISS-SMITH, T. 2006. Fertility and the depopulation of Melanesia: childlessness, abortion and introduced disease in Simbo and Ontong Java, Solomon Islands. Pp. 13–52 in Ulijaszek, S. J. (ed.). Population, reproduction and fertility in Melanesia. Berghahn Books, Oxford.Google Scholar
BLACK, G. A., DOBZHANSKY, T. & PAVAN, C. 1950. Some attempts to estimate species diversity and population density of trees in Amazonian forests. Botanical Gazette 111:413–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CHESSON, P. L. 2000. Mechanisms of maintenance of species diversity. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 31:343–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CLARK, D. B. 1996. Abolishing virginity. Journal of Tropical Ecology 12:735–739.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CLARK, D. B., CLARK, D. A. & READ, J. M. 1998. Edaphic variation and the mesoscale distribution of tree species in a neotropical forest. Journal of Ecology 86:101–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CONNELL, J. H. 1978. Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 199:1302–1310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
DARGIE, T. C. D. 1984. On the integrated interpretation of indirect site ordinations: a case study using semi-arid vegetation in southeastern Spain. Vegetatio 55:37–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DUFRÊNE, M. & LEGENDRE, P. 1997. Species assemblages and indicator species: the need for a flexible asymmetrical approach. Ecological Monographs 67:345–366.Google Scholar
DUIVENVOORDEN, J. F. 1995. Tree species composition and rain forest–environment relationships in the middle Caquetá area, Colombia, NW Amazonia. Vegetatio 120:91–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HARMS, K. E., CONDIT, R., HUBBELL, S. P. & FOSTER, R. B. 2001. Habitat associations of trees and shrubs in a 50-ha neotropical forest plot. Journal of Ecology 89:947–959.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HIRST, J. A. 1965. Geology of east and northeast Viti Levu. Fiji Geological Survey Bulletin 12:1–51.Google Scholar
HUBBELL, S. P. & FOSTER, R. B. 1986. Biology, chance and history and the structure of tropical rain forest tree communities. Pp. 314–329 in Diamond, J. & Case, T. J. (eds.). Community ecology. Harper & Row Publishers, New York.Google Scholar
JOHN, R., DALLING, J. W., HARMS, K. E., YAVITT, J. B., STALLARD, R. F., MIRABELLO, M., HUBBELL, S. P., VALENCIA, R., NAVARETTE, H., VALLEJO, M. I. & FOSTER, R. B. 2007. Soil nutrients influence spatial distributions of tropical tree species. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 104:864–869.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
KANTVILAS, G. & MINCHIN, P. R. 1990. An analysis of epiphytic lichen communities in Tasmanian cool temperate rainforest. Vegetatio 84:99–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KEPPEL, G. & GHAZANFAR, S. A. 2006. Trees of Fiji. A guide to 100 rainforest trees. Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Suva, Fiji. 341 pp.Google Scholar
KEPPEL, G. & TUIWAWA, M. 2007. Dry zone forests of Fiji: species composition, life history traits, and conservation. New Zealand Journal of Botany 45:545–563.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KEPPEL, G., NAVUSO, J. C., NAIKATINI, A., THOMAS, N. T., ROUNDS, I. A., OSBORNE, T. A., BATINAMU, N. & SENIVASA, E. 2005. Botanical diversity at Savura, a lowland rainforest site along the PABITRA gateway transect, Viti Levu, Fiji. Pacific Science 59:175–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KEPPEL, G., ROUNDS, I. A. & THOMAS, N. T. 2006. The flora, vegetation, and conservation value of mesic forest at Dogotuki, Vanua Levu, Fiji Islands. New Zealand Journal of Botany 44:273–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KEPPEL, G., LOWE, A. J. & POSSINGHAM, H. P. 2009. Changing perspectives on the biogeography of the tropical South Pacific: influences of dispersal, vicariance and extinction. Journal of Biogeography 36:1035–1054.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KEPPEL, G., BUCKLEY, Y. M. & POSSINGHAM, H. P. 2010. Drivers of lowland rain forest community assembly, species diversity and forest structure on islands in the tropical South Pacific. Journal of Ecology 98:87–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MACARTHUR, R. H. & WILSON, E. O. 1967. The theory of island biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton. 205 pp.Google Scholar
MARTÍNEZ-RAMOS, M., SARUKHÁN, J. & PIÑERO, D. 1988. The demography of tropical trees in the context of forest gap dynamics. Pp. 293–313 in Davy, A. J., Hutchings, M. J. & Watkinson, A. R. (eds.). Plant population ecology. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.Google Scholar
MIELKE, P. W., BERRY, K. J. & JOHNSON, E. S. 1976. Multi-response permutation procedures for a priori classifications. Communications in Statistics – Theory and Methods 5:1409–1424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MUELLER-DOMBOIS, D. & ELLENBERG, H. 2002. Aims and methods of vegetation ecology. Blackburn Press, Caldwell. 547 pp.Google Scholar
PALMIOTTO, P. A., DAVIES, S. J., VOGT, K. A., ASHTON, M. S., VOGT, D. J. & ASHTON, P. S. 2004. Soil-related habitat specialization in dipterocarp rain forest species in Borneo. Journal of Ecology 92:609–623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PHILLIPS, O. L., NÚÑEZ, P. V., MONTEAGUDO, A. L., CRUZ, A. P., ZANS, M.-E. C., SÁNCHEZ, W. G., YLI-HALLA, M. & ROSE, S. 2003. Habitat association among Amazonian tree species: a landscape approach. Journal of Ecology 91:757–775.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PITMAN, N. C. A., TERBORGH, J. W., SILMAN, M. R., NÚÑEZ, P. V., NEILL, D. A., CERÓN, C. E., PALACIOS, W. A. & AULESTIA, M. 2001. Dominance and distribution of tree species in upper Amazonian terra firme forests. Ecology 82:2101–2117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
QUEENBOROUGH, S. A., BURSLEM, D. F. R. P., GARWOOD, N. C. & VALENCIA, R. 2007. Habitat niche partitioning by 16 species of Myristicaceae in Amazonian Ecuador. Plant Ecology 192:193–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROUGHGARDEN, J. 1974. Niche width: biogeographic patterns among Anolis lizard populations. American Naturalist 108:429–442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SMITH, A. C. 1979–1991. Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji (spermatophytes only). Volumes 1–5. Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Hawai'i.Google Scholar
SVENNING, J.-C. 1999. Microhabitat specialization in a species-rich palm community in Amazonian Ecuador. Journal of Ecology 87:55–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SVENNING, J.-C., KINNER, D. A., STALLARD, R. F., ENGELBRECHT, B. M. J. & WRIGHT, S. J. 2004. Ecological determinism in plant community structure across a tropical forest landscape. Ecology 85:2526–2538.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VALENCIA, R., BALSLEV, H. & PAZ Y MIÑO, G. C. 1994. High tree alpha-diversity in Amazonian Ecuador. Biodiversity and Conservation 3:21–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WEBB, C. O. & PEART, D. R. 2000. Habitat associations of trees and seedlings in a Bornean rainforest. Journal of Ecology 88:464–478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WEBB, E. L. & FA'AUMU, S. 1999. Diversity and structure of tropical rain forest of Tutuila, American Samoa: effects of site age and substrate. Plant Ecology 144:257–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WEBB, E. L., STANFIELD, B. J. & JENSEN, M. L. 1999. Effects of topography on rainforest tree community structure and diversity in American Samoa, and implications for frugivore and nectarivore populations. Journal of Biogeography 26:887–897.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WEBB, E. L., VAN DE BULT, M., CHUTIPONG, W. & KABIR, M. E. 2006. Composition and structure of lowland rain-forest tree communities on Ta'u, American Samoa. Pacific Science 60:333–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WHISTLER, W. A. 1980. The vegetation of Eastern Samoa. Allertonia 2:45–190.Google Scholar
WHITMORE, T. C. 1989. Changes over twenty-one years in the Kolombangara rain forests. Journal of Ecology 77:469–483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WRIGHT, S. J. 2002. Plant diversity in tropical forests: a review of mechanisms of species co-existence. Oecologia 130:1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
YAMADA, T., TOMITA, A., ITOH, A., YAMAKURA, T., OHKUBO, T., KANZAKI, M., TAN, S. & ASHTON, P. S. 2006. Habitat associations of Sterculiaceae trees in a Bornean rain forest plot. Journal of Vegetation Science 17:559–566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar