Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T16:48:10.017Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sprouting, succession and tree species diversity in a South African coastal dune forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Emmanuel Fred Nzunda
Emmanuel Fred Nzunda*
Affiliation:
School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Sprouting may play a significant role in maintenance of plant diversity where prevailing disturbance frequency and severity allows. When disturbance frequency and severity decrease, strong sprouters may be outcompeted. As a result, species composition and diversity may change. This study was carried out to investigate the relationship between sprouting, succession and species diversity in a coastal dune forest that currently suffers from low-severity, chronic disturbance due to sea winds and loose sand substrate. Historically, the site was occupied by shifting cultivators who left the site about 80 y ago. Data on trees that were at least 1.3 m tall from 42 sample plots measuring 20 × 20 m were used. The plots were ranked in order of advancement of succession using the first axis of Principal Components Analysis of forest structural variables. Regeneration pattern was examined using analysis of stem diameter frequency distribution. Abundance and regeneration of strong basal sprouters, incidence of basal sprouting and species diversity decreased with advancement of succession. Only a few species could regenerate under the canopy of late-successional sites. Basal sprouts decreased with advancement of succession whereas trunk sprouts increased. These results suggest that maintenance of high species diversity may need a level of disturbance that allows regeneration and maintenance of strong basal sprouters.

Keywords

disturbance severityforest structuremulti-stemmed treesplant community dynamicsresproutingshade tolerancespecies compositionsuccession
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , March 2011 , pp. 195 - 203
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

BELLINGHAM, P. J. & SPARROW, A. D. 2000. Resprouting as a life history strategy in woody plant communities. Oikos 89:409–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BELLINGHAM, P. J., TANNER, E. V. J. & HEALEY, J. R. 1994. Sprouting of trees in Jamaican montane forests, after a hurricane. Journal of Ecology 82:747–758.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BOND, W. J. & MIDGLEY, J. J. 2001. Ecology of sprouting in woody plants: the persistence niche. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 16:45–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
BONGERS, F., POORTER, L., HAWTHORNE, W. D. & SHEIL, D. 2009. The intermediate disturbance hypothesis applies to tropical forests, but disturbance contributes little to tree diversity. Ecology Letters 12:1–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
CLARKE, P. J., KNOX, K. J. E., WILLS, K. E. & CAMPBELL, M. 2005. Landscape patterns of woody plant response to crown fire: disturbance and productivity influence sprouting ability. Journal of Ecology 93:544–555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COATES-PLAGRAVE, K. 2002. Trees of Southern Africa. (Third edition). Struik Publishers, Cape Town. 1000 pp.Google Scholar
CONNELL, J. H. 1978. Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 199:1302–1310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
COWLING, R. M., RICHARDSON, D. M., SCHULTZ, R. E., HOFFMAN, M. T., MIDGLEY, J. J. & HILTON-TAILOR, C. 1997. Species diversity at the regional scale. Pp. 447–473 in Cowling, R. M., Richardson, D. M. & Pierce, S. M. (eds.). Vegetation of Southern Africa. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 615 pp.Google Scholar
DEL TREDICI, P. 2001. Sprouting in temperate trees: a morphological and ecological review. Botanical Review 67:121–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DONNEGAN, J. A. & REBERTUS, A. 1999. Rates and mechanisms of subalpine forest succession along an environmental gradient. Ecology 80:1370–1384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EVERARD, D. A., MIDGLEY, J. J. & VAN WYK, G. F. 1995. Dynamics of some forests in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, based on ordinations and size-class distributions. South African Journal of Botany 61:283–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FALSTER, D. S. & WESTOBY, M. 2005. Tradeoffs between height growth rate, stem persistence and maximum height among plant species in a post-fire succession. Oikos 111:57–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GRACIA, M. & RETANA, J. 2004. Effect of site quality and shading on sprouting patterns of holm oak coppices. Forest Ecology and Management 188:39–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HAMMER, Ø., HARPER, D. A. T. & RYAN, P. D. 2001. PAST: Paleontological Statistics Software Package for Education and Data Analysis. Palaeontologia Electronica 4 (1):9 pp. Available at: http://palaeo-electronica.org/2001_2001/past/past.pdf.Google Scholar
HORN, H. S. 1974. The ecology of secondary succession. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 5:25–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KAMMESHEIDT, L. 1998. The role of tree sprouts in the restoration of stand structure and species diversity in tropical moist forest after slash-and-burn agriculture in Eastern Paraguay. Plant Ecology 139:155–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KAMMESHEIDT, L. 1999. Forest recovery by root suckers and above-ground sprouts after slash-and-burn agriculture, fire and logging in Paraguay and Venezuela. Journal of Tropical Ecology 15:143–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KARLSSON, P. S., TENOW, O., BYLUND, H., HOOGESTEGER, J. & WEIH, M. 2004. Determinants of mountain birch growth in situ: effects of temperature and herbivory. Ecography 27:659–667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KOOP, H. 1989. Forest dynamics. Springer, Berlin. 242 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KRUGER, L. M. & MIDGLEY, J. J. 2001. The influence of resprouting forest canopy species on richness in Southern Cape forests, South Africa. Global Ecology and Biogeography 10:549–566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KRUGER, L. M., MIDGLEY, J. J. & COWLING, R. M. 1997. Resprouters vs reseeders in South African forest trees; a model based on forest canopy height. Functional Ecology 11:101–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LE MAITRE, D. C. & MIDGLEY, J. J. 1992. Plant reproductive ecology. Pp. 135–174 in Cowling, R. M. (ed.). The ecology of fynbos: nutrients, fire, and diversity. Oxford University Press, Cape Town. 411 pp.Google Scholar
LOEHLE, C. 2000. Strategy space and the disturbance spectrum: a life-history model for tree species coexistence. American Naturalist 152:14–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MAGURRAN, A. E. 1988. Ecological diversity and its measurement. Croom Helm, London. 179 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MCCOY, S., JAFFRÉ, T., RIGAULT, F. & ASH, J. E. 1999. Fire and succession in the ultramafic maquis of New Caledonia. Journal of Biogeography 26:579–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MCCUNE, B. & MEFFORD, M. J. 1999. PC-ORD: Multivariate analysis of ecological data. MjM Software, Gleneden Beach.Google Scholar
MIDGLEY, J. J. 1996. Why the world's vegetation is not totally dominated by resprouting plants; because resprouters are shorter than reseeders. Ecography 19:92–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MIDGLEY, J. J., EVERARD, D. A. & VAN WYK, G. F. 1995. Relative lack of regeneration of shade-intolerant canopy species in some South African forests. South African Journal of Science 91:7–8.Google Scholar
MOLL, E. J. 1972. A preliminary account of the dune communities at Pennington Park, Mtunzini, Natal. Bothalia 10:615–626.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MUELLER-DOMBOIS, D. & ELLENBERG, H. 1974. Aims and methods of vegetation ecology. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 547 pp.Google Scholar
NANAMI, S., KAWAGUCHI, H., TATENO, R., LI, C. & KATAGIRI, S. 2004. Sprouting traits and population structure of co-occurring Castanopsis species in an evergreen broad-leaved forest in southern China. Ecological Research 19:341–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NZUNDA, E. F., GRIFFITHS, M. E. & LAWES, M. J. 2007. Resprouting versus turning up of leaning trees in a subtropical coastal dune forest in South Africa. Journal of Tropical Ecology 23:289–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OHKUBO, T. 1992. Structure and dynamics of Japanese beech (Fagus japonica Maxim.) stools and sprouts in the regeneration of the natural forests. Vegetatio 101:65–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OHKUBO, T., TANIMOTO, T. & PETERS, R. 1996. Response of Japanese beech (Fagus japonica Maxim.) sprouts to canopy gaps. Vegetatio 124:1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OLDEMAN, R. A. A. 1990. Forests: elements of silvology. Springer, Berlin. 624 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OLIVER, C. D. & LARSON, B. C. 1990. Forest stand dynamics. McGraw Hill, New York. 467 pp.Google Scholar
RETANA, J., RIBA, M., CASTELL, C. & ESPELTA, J. M. 1992. Regeneration by sprouting of holm oak (Quercus ilex) stands exploited by selection thinning. Vegetatio 99–100:355–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RODRIGUES, R. R., TORRES, R. B., MATTHES, L. A. F. & PENHA, A. S. 2004. Tree species sprouting from root buds in a semideciduous forest affected by fires. Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology 47:127–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROXBURGH, S. H., SHEA, K. & WILSON, J. B. 2004. The intermediate disturbance hypothesis: patch dynamics and mechanisms of species coexistence. Ecology 85:359–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SHEIL, D. & BURSLEM, D. F. R. P. 2003. Disturbing hypotheses in tropical forests. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18:18–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SILVERTOWN, J. W. 1982. Introduction to plant population ecology. Longman, London. 209 pp.Google Scholar
THOMAS, S. C. 1996. Asymptotic height as a predictor of growth and allometric characteristics in Malaysian rain forest trees. American Journal of Botany 83:556–566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TINLEY, K. L. 1985. Coastal dunes of South Africa. Foundation for Research Development, Pretoria.Google Scholar
VENTER, H. J. T. 1976. An ecological study of the dune forest at Mapelana, Cape St. Lucia, Zululand. Journal of South African Botany 42:211–230.Google Scholar
WALLER, D. M. 1986. The dynamics of growth and form. Pp. 291–320 in Crawley, M. J. (ed.). Plant ecology. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford. 496 pp.Google Scholar
WHITE, P. S. & PICKETT, S. T. A. 1985. Natural disturbance and patch dynamics: an introduction. Pp. 3–13 in Pickett, S. T. A. & White, P. S. (eds.). The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Academic Press, New York. 472 pp.Google Scholar
WILSON, J. B. 1994. The ‘intermediate disturbance hypothesis’ of species coexistence is based on patch dynamics. New Zealand Journal of Ecology 18:176–181.Google Scholar