Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T14:23:05.000Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Seed and seedling survival of the palm Astrocaryum murumuru and the legume tree Dipteryx micrantha in gaps in Amazonian forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Renato Cintra  and
Viviana Horna
Renato Cintra
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Duke University, P.O. Box 9183, Durham, North Carolina, 27706, USA.
Viviana Horna
Affiliation:
Viviana Horna, Jr. Iván Huerta Mz. k3 -lote 32, Urb. Prolongatión Benavides, Surco, Lima, Peru.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The role of regeneration strategies in structuring tropical tree communities has been a recent focus of attention of tropical ecologists. Canopy discontinuities created by tree-falls are considered to be critical to many rain forest trees for establishing and completing their life cycles. It was investigated whether it is advantageous for two common large-seeded and shadetolerant Amazonian tree species, the palm Astrocaryum murumuru and the legume, Dipteryx micrantha, to have their seeds dispersed to gaps. The dispersal process was simulated by placing experimental seeds and seedlings in gaps and in the shaded understorey, and then following their performance. Seeds and seedlings from the two species were used. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to estimate the survival functions and compare survivorship curves. Survival of Astrocaryum seeds, and of Dipteryx seeds and seedlings, was higher in two gap zones (crown and bole) than in the shaded understorey (both near and far away from a conspecific adult). A higher proportion of seedlings of both plant species survived within gaps than in the shaded understorey over an 18-wk period. One year after the seedlings had been transplanted into gaps these patterns still held. Naturally occurring Astrocaryum seeds survived better beneath conspecific adult trees located within 30 m of gaps than beneath trees located 100 m from gaps. Variation in gap size was significant for Dipteryx seeds, but not for Dipteryx seedlings and Astrocaryum seeds and seedlings. Dipteryx seeds survived longer in smaller than in larger gaps. By colonizing tree-fall gaps, these two species improved their chances of completing their life cycles.

Keywords

AmazoniaAstrocaryumDipteryxforest gapseed dispersalseedling survival
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , March 1997 , pp. 257 - 277
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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

Ausgpurger, C. K. 1984. Seedling survival among tropical tree species: interactions of dispersal distance, light gaps, and pathogens. Ecology 65:1705–1712.Google Scholar
Bodmer, R. E. 1991. Strategies of seed dispersal and seed predation in Amazonian ungulates. Biotropica 23:255–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonacorso, F. J., Glanz, W. E. & Sanford, C. M. 1980. Feeding assemblages of mammals at fruiting Dipteryx panamensis (Papilionaceae) trees in Panama: seed predation, dispersal, and parasitism. Revista de Biologia Tropical 28:61–72.Google Scholar
Brako, L., & Zarucchi, J. A. 1993. Catalogue of the flowering plants and gymnosperms of Peru. Missouri Botanical Garden. 1286 pp.Google Scholar
Brandani, A., Hartshorn, G. & Orians, G. 1988. Internal heterogeneity of gaps and species richness in Costa Rican tropical rain forest, Journal of Tropical Ecology 4:99–119.Google Scholar
Brokaw, N. 1985. Gap-phase regeneration in a tropical forest. Ecology 66:682–687.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brokaw, N. 1987. Gap-phase regeneration of three pioneer tree species in a tropical forest. Journal of Ecology 75:9–19CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cintra, R. 1994. Factors affecting post-dispersal seed and seedling survival of two tree species in the Amazon forest. PhD dissertation, Duke University, Durham, NC.Google 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
Clark, D. B. 1991. The role of disturbance in the regeneration of Neotropical moist forest. Pp. 291–315 in Bawa, K. S. & Hadley, M. (eds.) Reproductive ecology of tropical forest plants. Man and The Biosphere Series.Volume 7. Parthenon Publishing Group, Paris.Google Scholar
Clark, D. B. & Clark, D. A. 1987. Population ecology and microhabitat distribution of Dipteryx panamensis, a neotropical rain forest emergent tree. Biotropica 19:236–244.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. 298–310 in Boer, P. J. den. & Gradwell, G. R. (eds). Dynamics of populations, Oosterbeek. 1970 Centre For Agricultural Publications and Documentation, Wageningen.Google Scholar
Connell, J. H., Tracey, J. G. & Webb, L. J. 1984. Compensatory recruitment, growth, and mortality as factors maintaining rain forest tree diversity. Ecological Monographs 54:141–164.Google Scholar
Denslow, J. 1987. Tropical rainforest gaps and tree species diversity. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 18:431–451.Google Scholar
De Steven, D. & Putz, F. E. 1984. Impact of mammals on early recruitment of a tropical canopy tree, Diptetyx panamtnsis; in Panama. Oikos 43:207–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emmons, L. H. 1982. Ecology of Proechimys (Rodentia, Echimyidae) in Southern Peru. Tropical Ecology 23:280–290.Google Scholar
Forget, P-M. 1991. Scatterhoarding of Astrocaryum paramaca by Proechimys in French Guiana: comparisons with Myoprocta exilis. Tropical Ecology 32:155–167.Google Scholar
Forget, P-M. 1993. Post-dispersal predation and scatterhoarding of Diptetyx panamensis (Papilionaceae) seeds by rodents in Panama. Oecologia 94:255–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Forget, P-M. & Milleron, T. 1992. Evidence for secondary seed dispersal by rodents in Panama. Oecologia 87:596–599.Google Scholar
Foster, S. A. & Janson, C. H. 1985. The relationship between seed size, gap dependence, and successional status of tropical rainforest woody species. Ecology 66:773–780.Google Scholar
Gentry, A. H. 1991. (ed.) Four Neotropical forests. Yale University Press, Yale. 627 pp.Google Scholar
Grubb, P. J. 1977. The maintenance of species richness in plant communities: the importance of the regeneration niche. Biological Reviews 52:107–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harper, J. L. 1977. Population biology of plants, Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Hartshorn, G. S. 1978. Tree falls and tropical forest dynamics. Pp. 613–678 in Tomlinson, P. B. & Zimmermann, M. H. (eds). Tropical trees as living systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Henderson, A. & Galeano, G. & Bernal, R. 1995. Field guide to the palms of the Americas. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.352 pp.Google Scholar
Horvitz, C. C. & Schemske, D. W. 1986. Seed dispersal and environmental heterogeneity in a neotropical herb: a model of population and patch dynamics. Pp. 169–186 in Estrada, A. & Fleming, T. H. (eds.). Frugivores and seed dispersal. Dr. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht. 393 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howe, H. F. & Smallwood, J. 1982. Ecology of seed dispersal. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematic 13:201–228.Google Scholar
Hubbell, S. P. 1979. Tree dispersion, abundance, and diversity in a tropical dry forest. Science 203:1299–1309.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. 1970. Herbivores and the number of tree species in tropical forests. American Naturalist 104:501–528.Google Scholar
Kapos, V., Pauant, E., Bien, A. & Freskos, S. 1990. Gap frequencies in lowland rain forest sites on contrasting soils in Amazonian Ecuador. Biotropica 22:218–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiltie, R. 1981. Distribution of palm fruits on a rain forest floor: why white-lipped peccaries forage near objects. Biotropica 13:141–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieberman, M., Lieberman, D. & Peralta, R. 1989. Forests are not just Swiss cheese: canopy stereogeometry of non-gaps in the tropical forests. Ecology 70:550–552.Google Scholar
Molofsky, J. & Augspurger, C. K. 1992. The effect of leaf litter on early seedling establishment in a tropical forest. Ecology 73:68–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, D. R. 1986. Seed dispersal. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Orians, G. H. 1982. The influence of tree-falls in tropical forests in tree species richness. Tropical Ecology 23:255–279.Google Scholar
Platt, W. J. & Strong, D. 1989 (eds.). Gaps in forest ecology. Special Feature, Ecology 70:535–576.Google Scholar
Price, M. V. & Jenkins, S. H. 1986. Rodents as seed consumers and dispersers. Pp. 191–234 in Murray, D. R. (ed.) Seed dispersal. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Rankin, J. M. 1978. The influence of seed predation and plant competition on tree species abundances in two adjacent tropical rain forests. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.Google Scholar
Ridley, H. N. 1930. The dispersal of plants throughout the world. L. Reeve, Ashford, Kent, England.Google Scholar
Schupp, E. W. 1988. Seed and early seedling predation in the forest understory and in treefall gaps. Oikos 51:71–78.Google Scholar
Schupp, E. W. & Frost, E. J. 1989. Differential predation of Welfia georgii seeds in treefall gaps and forest understory. Biotropica 21:200–203.Google Scholar
Smythe, N. 1989. Seed survival in the palm Astrocaryum standleyanum: evidence for dependence upon its seed dispersers. Biotropica 21:50–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swaine, M. D. & Whitmore, T. C. 1988. On the definition of ecological species groups in tropical rain forests. Vegetatio 75:81–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SPLUS 1991. User's manual. Volume 2 version 3.0. Statistical Sciences Inc. Seattle, Washington.Google Scholar
Terborgh, J. 1985. The vertical component of plant species diversity in temperate and tropical forests. American Naturalist 126:760–776.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Terborgh, J. 1986. Keystone plant resources in the tropical forest. Pp. 330–344 in Soule, M. E. (ed.). Conservation biology: the science of scarcity and diversity. Sinauer, Sunderland, Mass.Google Scholar
Terborgh, J., Losos, L., Riley, M. P. & Riley, M. B. 1993. Predation by vertebrates and invertebrates on the seeds of five canopy tree species of an Amazonian forest. Vegetatio 107/108:375–386.Google Scholar
Uhl, C., Clark, K., Dezzeo, N. & Maquirino, P. 1988. Vegetation dynamics in Amazonian treefall gaps. Ecology 69:751–763.Google Scholar
Velasquez, J. R. & Martinez-Ramos, M. 1991. The role of seed density and environmental heterogeneity on the removal of seeds of an understory tropical palm. Abstracts II, Simposio Frugivoria y Dispersion de Semillas. Los Tuxtlas, Mexico.Google Scholar
Watt, A. S. 1947. Pattern and process in the plant community. Journal of Ecology 35:1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitmore, T. C. 1989. Canopy gaps and the two major groups of forest trees. Ecology:536–538.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, L. 1991. SYSTAT: the system for statistics. SYSTAT Inc., Evanston, IL, USA.Google Scholar
Zar, J. H. 1984. Biostatistical analysis. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA.Google Scholar