Germination and seedling resprouting capacity of the very large-seeded tree species Prioria copaifera Griseb. (Fabaceae) was studied in the seasonally moist forest of Barro Colorado Island, Panamá. Seeds with 60% of their cotyledonary mass removed did not suffer a reduced probability of germination compared to unmanipulated seeds and seeds infested with up to eight insect larvae germinated as well as uninfested seeds. Unmanipulated seeds were able to consecutively produce up to four functional resprout shoots after excision of the initial, and subsequent, fully expanded shoots. Even seeds with up to 60% of their reserves removed showed some capacity to resprout. Less than 10% of seeds we encountered in the field 2 mo after the end of the fruiting season were in a viable state, with the majority (55%) of mortality attributable to insect or pathogen damage. Of the 46 seeds that were viable, 30% had suffered partial removal of seed reserves similar to our manipulation treatments. These results indicate that P. copaifera seeds are capable of tolerating severe seed and shoot damage. The selective advantage conferred by damage tolerance may in part have contributed to the evolution of large seed size in this species.

To study regeneration on landslides, we counted the number of woody stems at least 1 m tall in 2 m × 5 m permanent plots on Puerto Rican landslides for 5 y and generated successional pathways for all plots in 16 different landslides using principal components analysis (PCA). PCA separated plots well, with early successional plant species (Cecropia schreberiana, Schefflera morolotoni, Alchornea latifolia, Gonzalagunia spicata) positively associated with axes I and II, and the negative portion of axis II associated with a mix of those species and mid-successional species (Inga vera, Piper glabrescens). Pathways generally showed (1) a positive association with axis I in early succession, (2) a negative association with both I and II later in succession, (3) little evidence of a decrease in the rate of succession, and (4) a lack of convergence of pathways over the 5 y of our study.

Field experiments and survival analysis were used to test whether the Janzen-Connell model operated for two common Amazonian tree species in Peru: the midstorey palm, Astrocaryum murumuru, and the canopy-emergent legume, Dipteryx micrantha. Seed and seedling survival patterns of these species partially supported the model, depending on tree species, type of predator, spatial scale and the particular year. At a small scale of a 2.5-ha plot, Astrocaryum seed predation by insects and mammals was density-dependent. At a larger scale of 100 ha, Dipteryx seed survival increased with distance from conspecific adults, but for Astrocaryum seeds there was no distance dependence. At the scale of 200–400 ha Dipteryx seed survival was negatively related to the number of individuals present in groups of conspecific adult trees. In 1992 a higher proportion of Astrocaryum seedlings survived far from, compared with close to, conspecific adult trees, whilst in 1993 more Dipteryx seedlings survived beneath conspecific adult trees than farther away.

The variations in macronutrient concentrations of the leaves of Terminalia superba and Pycanthus angolensis were studied and the concentrations of nutrients in leaves before abscission were compared with those after abscission. The amounts of nutrients returned to the forest floor were also computed from litter fall data at the start of maximum annual fall in the Reserve. With the exception of potassium in Pycanthus angolensis, there were significant variations in the nutrient concentrations of the two species with the time of year. With increasing leaf age the concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium declined in Terminalia superba while magnesium concentration decreased in Pycanthus angolensis leaves. Furthermore, calcium showed an increasing concentration in Terminalia superba with increase in leaf age. The concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium decreased before leaf fall. Estimated losses in nitrogen phosphorus and potassium before abscission were 44, 53 and 50%, respectively, whereas generally there was an increase (40%) in the concentration of calcium at leaf fall. Magnesium did not follow a definite pattern. The return of calcium through litter fall to the forest floor was the greatest of all the major elements. The distribution and variation of foliar nutrient concentrations in the leaves of Terminalia superba and Pycanthus angolensis and the importance of the amount of litter and the concentration of the various nutrients in the influencing soil fertility are discussed.

Disjunctions between Africa and the Neotropics present a puzzle that is key to understanding the biogeography of the diverse floras and faunas of both continents. Many authors have proposed that Raphia taedigera Maur., the sole Neotropical representative of an otherwise African genus, has been introduced to the New World. Paleoecological data from a freshwater swamp in Nicaragua, which yielded R. taedigera pollen dating to 2800 ± 90 y before present (BP) and Raphia seed fragments from 2040 ± 60 BP are presented. These illustrate that Raphia taedigera arrived in the New World before trans-Atlantic trade by humans and thus arrived as a result of a natural phenomenon. The lack of differentiation of R. taedigera from the African sister taxon, R. vinifera, suggests recent separation of the two species (i.e. after the creation of the southern Atlantic Ocean by the splitting of West Gondwana). Other evidence supports dispersal of Raphia by ocean currents. The palm probably arrived from Africa by floating as an individual fruit or on a raft of vegetation. Thus, R. taedigera represents another example of trans-Atlantic dispersal, strengthening the link between the flora and fauna of Africa and the Neotropics.

All mature individuals of Aglaia aff. flavida (Meliaceae) were mapped in a 260 ha study area at the Crater Mountain Biological Research Station in Papua New Guinea. Sixty-four reproductively mature trees were found in an aggregated distribution with a mean inter-tree distance of 88.9 m. The sample consisted of 35 female and 29 male trees with a mean shortest distance between sexes of 232 m. Seed production and seed removal of 22 female trees was monitored throughout the 1992 fruiting season. Female trees with in 200 m of male trees generally produced large seeds crops (> 100 seeds) whereas trees farther than 200 m from the nearest male had small seed crops (< 100 seeds) regardless of female size (DBH). Most seeds (63.2%, n = 3312) produced in a sub-sample of 22 trees came from the five most fecund trees, which also produced 74.1% of the seeds that were removed by vertebrate dispersers. Where a minority of a population of rare tropical trees produce the majority of progeny, sustainable harvest practices would be most effective where highly fecund individuals are identified and conserved.

A comparative study was undertaken of Amazonian fish diversity and density (abundance and biomass) in nutrient poor (blackwater) and richer (whitewater – várzea) habitats in the vicinity of Tefé, Brazil. The whitewater sampling sites, in the floodplain of the Rios Solimōes and Japurá, had high turbidity (Secchi disc 0.03–0.7 m), a conductivity of 64–110 μS cm–1 at 25°C and a pH of 6.6–6.9. The blackwater sites Lagos Amanã, Iamã and Tefé had a low turbidity (Secchi disc 2.0–2.2 m), a conductivity of 7–11 μS cm–1 at 25°C and a pH of 5.3–6.0. The fish communities of open water, floating meadow and forest margin were sampled. Both whitewater and blackwater sites held high diversity fish communities with many species in common. Whitewater habitats were more diverse yielding 108 species, compared with only 68 from blackwater. Fish density within floating meadow was estimated during high water April and May 1994, and low water October 1994 and March 1995. During the high water season fish biomasses in blackwater lakes (31.1 gm–2) were significantly greater than those of either whitewater lakes (13.4 gm–2) or whitewater river channels (3.45 g m–2). At low water, in October, whitewater channels were generally found to hold the highest fish biomass (204 g m–2) although in March a blackwater site yielded the highest fish biomass recorded (285.9 g m–2). The amount of floating meadow habitat within Whitewaters is however much greater than that in blackwaters. It is suggested that blackwaters may offer a stable habitat resulting in a high standing crop. In comparison, variation in conditions such as dissolved oxygen concentration in the whitewater may limit standing crop, but still allow periods of high productivity. Evidence was found for migration of fish from várzea lakes during periods of low oxygen availability. The high diversity and biomass of fish caught in both whitewater and blackwater lakes indicates that water acidity and conductivity are poor predictors of fish diversity and density in tropical floodplain lakes.

This investigation examined the hypothesis that nutrient deficiency is related to the die-back of Terminalia ivorensis. The study was conducted on three major soil groups in natural forest and T. ivorensis plantations. Five soil chemical factors, Total nitrogen, organic carbon, effective CEC, exchangeable calcium and magnesium, were positively related to die-back. Foliar nitrogen concentrations in trees suffering from die-back were almost 50% of those of healthy trees. The concentrations of magnesium in the leaves of T. ivorensis experiencing die-back were also low. Conversely, high concentrations of foliar calcium were associated with trees under stress. A highly significant relationship was observed between die-back ranks and leaf size.

Nests of a fungus-growing termite Macrotermes jeanneli discharge all their metabolic gases through a single outlet to the atmosphere. This made it possible to measure the production of metabolic gases, and the rates of water loss, for intact nests in the field. Rates of production of carbon dioxide and methane from isolated nest components (different termite castes and intact fungus combs) were measured. Using previously published nest population data and fungus comb weights in relation to nest size, the expected gas production rates for intact nests were calculated. These estimates were compared with direct observations of the gaseous outflow from intact nests. The rates were in reasonable agreement, but some nests emitted excess carbon dioxide, probably produced by respiration of tree roots and non-termite soil organisms. Large nests may have a total gas outflow of 100,000 to 400,000 1 d–1 including 800 to 1500 1 d–1 of CO2 and 0.5 to 1.3 1 d–1 of CH4. Nests lose water at the rate of up, to 13 1 d–1 gross, but allowing for ambient humidity the net water loss was up to about 5 1 d–1. Some of this is metabolic water, but the larger proportion comes from the soil. Area-based estimates of gas production were made for this and two other species of Macrotermes, but they are not accurate because the field distribution and mound density are not adequately known.

Plant establishment was studied in a swamp forest in the lowland Atlantic rainforest in southeastern Brazil. A topographic gradient allowed a clear distinction between a periodically flooded and a permanently flooded site in the study area. Both sites were mosaics of patches: the former showed soil patches of varying sizes subject to distinct flooding durations (from 0 to 300 d per year) and in the latter, the tank bromeliads which densely occupied the understorey, trap litter and provided ‘suspended soil’ patches. In the periodically flooded site, the occurrence of regenerants (< 1.0 m tall) of the actively regenerating tree populations of Calophyllum brasiliense, Symphonia globulifera and Tovomitopsis paniculata (all Clusiaceae), originating from seed or vegetative organs, was recorded for 1 m2 quadrats placed in flooded (n = 82) and unflooded (n = 103) patches. In the permanently flooded site, dominated by Tabebuia cassinoides (Bignoniaceae), the presence of germinated seedlings was counted for 400 rosettes of the terrestrial tank bromeliad Nidularium procerum. The results showed that unflooded patches, including tank bromeliads, favoured seedling establishment. However, T. paniculata and T. cassinoides colonize patches where flooding lasts longer or is permanent mostly by reproducing vegetatively, while the seeds of C. brasiliense, which showed no form of vegetative reproduction, and S. globulifera are successful in colonizing flooded patches. Germination tests and field observations indicated that, for C. brasiliense, pre- and post-dispersal seed dormancy, a two-phase seed dispersal (water and bats) and seedling tolerance to flooding accounted for this pattern.

The red crab Gecarcoidea natalis is the most abundant land crab on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, and is found wherever native rain forest is still intact. The largest crabs grow to > 120 mm carapace width and reach > 500 g in mass. Red crabs are diurnally active, and moisture appears to be the most important factor governing surface activity – activity was nil below 77% RH, relatively low at 87% RH, and high above 95% RH. The crabs retreat to the interior of their burrows during dry periods, but emerge rapidly in response to rain. Because of their dependence on moisture for surface activity, red crabs show greater levels of activity during the wet season. Annual breeding migrations and moulting activity decreased the density of surface-active crabs at the main study sites for several weeks at the start of the wet season, and fruit and leaf fall caused dramatic local increases in the density of active red crabs. Density and biomass at the main study sites averaged 1.3 crabs m-2 and 1454 kg ha-1, respectively, and 1.2 crabs m-2 and 1137 kg ha-1 at a total of five sites across the island. Rough calculations suggest that the island-wide population is at least 100 million individuals. Red crabs are the dominant consumer on the forest floor, and consume seeds, seedlings and leaf litter. Because they are both abundant and widespread, these animals have the potential to be the most important determinant of pattern and process in rain forest on Christmas Island.

Seasonal changes in the densities of dormant seeds in the soil around eight pioneer trees in the 50-ha Forest Dynamics Plot, on Barro Colorado Island, Panamá were studied, and how seed dispersal and seed dormancy influenced patterns of seed abundance and distribution were examined. Twenty-four, 3-cm-deep soil samples were collected on 30 m transects radiating out from each of the trees in each of four time-intervals through the year, and four 21-cm-deep samples were collected beneath the focal tree crowns. In the surface 0–3 cm of soil, germinable seed densities of all species combined declined from a peak of 1090 seeds m−2 in the mid-wet season in August, to 330 seeds m−2 by the end of the wet season in November. In contrast, at soil depths >3 cm, there was little variation in soil seed bank density through the year. Some variation in soil seed bank density for individual species could be accounted for by distance to reproductive conspecifics. Among species, abundance in the soil was negatively correlated with seed size. Seed persistence varied greatly among species at this site; after 1 y of burial in mesh bags, seed germinability of four species was near zero, while four other species showed no consistent decline in seed germinability after >2 y of burial. For at least one species, Trema micrantha, prolonged seed dormancy was also possible under natural conditions. Twenty-five percent of Trema seeds extracted from the soil at a site occupied by an isolated Trema tree that died between 1982 and 1985 were still germinable in 1994.

The demographic history of a flower-cohort of the tropical tree Dicymbe altsonii (Caesalpiniaceae) was studied by collecting litter from flowers, fruits and seeds, and by monitoring seedling survival. Flower production was estimated at 137 to 172 m−2 in a plot of 1 ha. Four percent of the flowers yielded a pod, which contained an average of 2.0 seeds. Post-dispersal mortality over 3 mo was 39% of the initial number of dispersed seeds. Most flowers and fruits were aborted. Insect and vertebrate predation in the tree and on the ground was very low. Reproductive litter production of this species was estimated to be equal to leaf litter production. The amount of phosphorus lost in litter from fruits and flowers was much larger than in leaf litter. This implies that the impact of the biennial flowering events on the nutrient dynamics of the trees and of the ecosystem may be large. It is argued that the reproductive cycle and the pre-dispersal demography of Dicymbe seem to be determined by a scarcity of nutrient resources, and possibly by pollinator limitation.

Kentropyx calcarata (Teiidae) and Mabuya nigropunctata (Scincidae) occur together in lowland tropical forest of the Amazon near the Rio Curuá-Una of Brazil. During the wet season of 1995 these lizards were common at forest edge along narrow roads that transect forest, in treefalls and along streams where sun reaches the ground. Both species are heliothermic, basking to gain heat. Their association with open patches results from high activity temperature requirements in an environment where sun availability is low. Null temperature distributions from forest and treefalls showed that forest does not offer opportunities for heat gain similar to treefalls. Moreover, the large proportion of time spent basking by both species indicates the importance of these patches for thermoregulation. K. calcarata is slightly larger in body length and heavier at a given body length than M. nigropunctata. Both species are active foragers that seek out prey while moving through the habitat, feeding on orthopterans, roaches and spiders. M. nigropunctata also eat significant numbers of insects that occur on vegetation, such as hemipterans. Prey size is larger in K. calcarata and associated with lizard body size. Prey size does not vary with body size in M. nigropunctata and prey are typically relatively small.

Many of the ecological differences between these two lowland forest species appear to be historical: the ecology of K. calcarata is very similar to that of other species of Kentropyx and teiids in general and the ecology of M. nigropunctata is most similar to that of other studied species of south American Mabuya.

The importance of figs as keystone resources depends partly on their year-round fruiting pattern. However, most non-equatorial fig species show seasonality in reproductive phenology. If fig and other species' fruiting peaks coincide, the importance of figs as key resources during lean fruiting periods may be reduced. Fig and other forest tree phenology was studied in a deciduous and an evergreen site in the Western Ghats, southern India, from January 1991 to May 1992. In the deciduous site, most non-fig flowering and leaf flushing occurred during the two dry seasons, while most fruiting occurred during the dry and early wet seasons. In the evergreen site, all non-fig tree phenological stages – flowering, fruiting and leaf flushing – were concentrated during the two dry seasons annually (dry and post-monsoon). Individual fig trees produced crops one to three times annually, at different times of the year for different trees. Fig community fruiting peaks in the evergreen site coincided with fruiting peaks of the other forest trees, but in the deciduous site occurred slightly offset from non-fig fruiting peaks. The role of figs as key resources is likely to differ among forests, and to depend on factors such as diversity of fruiting pattern among fig species, fig tree density and territoriality of frugivores.

The position of Macrotermes michaelseni mounds were mapped in six areas of 1.5 to 31.0 ha in a range of habitats on the fringes of the Okavango delta. Abundance varied significantly between and within habitats with highest densities in relatively stable floodplain woodland. In all sites apparent overdispersion of active mounds was not statistically significant when edge effects were taken into account. When active and inactive mounds were combined some overdispersion was seen but due to the disturbance regime the probability of all mounds being active simultaneously was small. Intraspecific competition was, therefore, not considered likely. Our results and reanalyses of dispersion patterns in published accounts for Macrotermes species suggest that although mound dispersion can appear to be regular this is probably a result of historical precedence and chance events rather than any current density-dependent process.

A comparative study of seed germination was performed on 25 species of trees, shrubs, woody climbers and herbs from the dry Afromontane forest zone of Ethiopia. Despite the restricted geographical range of the species tested, the optimum constant temperature for germination varied considerably. For 17 of the species studied, it was between 20 and 25 °C while for three, germination was highest at 30 °C Germination was virtually inhibited (<20%) for eight of the species at 10 °C and eight of the species at 30 °C. There was no clear division in temperature response between plants differing in habitat. For four out of 12 species tested, fluctuating temperatures (20/12 °C) resulted in significantly higher germination than the constant temperature treatment (20 °C), suggesting that field-germination would be favoured by disturbance to the canopy or soil. Speed of germination was negatively correlated with the logarithum of seed size. Most species lay in the range 3–15 d to reach 50% of final germination at their optimum temperature for germination. Germination was significantly suppressed in darkness for a large number of species, particularly for those with seed size less than c. 3 mg. When these were incubated under leaf-filtered light, germination was in most cases even more effectively suppressed. Most of these species are known to have large soil seed banks. Mechanical scarification improved germination over the control in nine species. Five of these also reponded to heat or sulphuric acid scarification. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the species showing heat-induced germination may be fire adapted, although fire is probably a rare natural phenomenon in the Afromontane forest proper. Only one species, Bersama abyssinica, showed a classic recalcitrant behaviour. Germination dropped from 88% when the seeds were fresh to less than 20% after 1 mo of dry storage and 0% after 3 mo. Germinability of seeds of Ekebergia capensis also declined significantly with increasing storage time, although less rapidly; after 24 mo of dry storage, germination was 4%. In contrast, germinability of Juniperus procera was not significantly altered during 54 mo of storage. The results indicate that dormancy plays a major role in regulating germination in dry Afromontane species. Out of the 25 species studied, 15 (60%) showed some degree of initial dormancy. In most of the species with initially non-dormant seeds, dormancy would evidently be induced if the seeds are dispersed under a closed forest canopy or buried in the soil. These patterns of dormancy may have evolved in response to a highly unpredictable climate and small-scale disturbances, and should make the Afromontane forest flora relatively resilent also to anthropogenic disturbances.

Little information is available to test the various theories which have been proposed to explain the evolution of cauliflory. This study provides such data from observations in Trinidad of the numbers of potential pollinators visiting trunk and canopy flowers and on the size of canopy and trunk flowers and fruits. Subsidiary observations were made on the partitioning of resources between the sexes within flowers. Significantly more potential insect pollinators were trapped around the trunk flowers of two cauliflorous species than were caught around their canopy flowers. Trunk flowers were found to be larger than canopy flowers in four of the seven cauliflorous species studied, but they were smaller in one species. The higher probability of fruit set on trunks than in the canopy may have selected for cauliflory and subsequently increased trunk flower size in insect-pollinated understorey tropical trees. There was a tendency for flowers on the trunk not only to be larger but also to allocate relatively more dry weight to female parts and result in larger fruit than those in the canopy. These observations are consistent with Wallace's theory of the evolution of cauliflory, which argues that the condition arose in the dark understorey of the tropical forest, as a result of selection for trunk flowers which are more apparent to pollinators than are canopy flowers. However, other explanations for the evolution of cauliflory are not precluded as they are not mutually exclusive.

Inability to age tropical trees has imposed major limitations on the basic and applied science of tropical forests. Here advantage was taken of even-aged stands present in successional chronosequences found on Amazonian Whitewater river meanders to simplify the assumptions needed to estimate tree ages from growth measurements. Growth increments of eight common early successional species were measured in 21 0.5-ha plots evenly distributed over chronosequences from the earliest post-pioneer stage to mature Ficus-Cedrela stands representing approximately the mid-point of primary succession. Increment measurements, based on 4 or 5 y of growth, were arrayed in scatter diagrams against the midpoints of the growth intervals. A loess regression of the points, weighted for the higher mortality of slow-growing individuals, was then conducted to generate a ‘best estimate lifetime growth trajectory’ (BELGT) of a ‘typical’ individual surviving to maturity. The BELGT curves were integrated to generate a set of derived curves describing the time required by a ‘typical’ surviving individual to attain any given size up to the maximum for the species. Predictions of the ages of particular stands were derived from these latter curves and found to agree within 3 to 20% of ages independently estimated from the rate of point bar accretion.

The abundance and diversity of soil macrofauna were assessed in a range of vegetation types in northern Botswana. Hand-sorting of soil was used to extract all fauna greater than 2 mm body length from sandy soils in both the dry season (June) and towards the end of the single rainy season (February). Abundance varied significantly between samples from within a sampling location, within a vegetation type and occasionally between seasons. Greater densities were found in wet season samples from locations within closed canopy woodland except where permanent water was a significant feature of the habitat. Overall abundance was comparable to published estimates from more moist tropical and temperate habitats suggesting an important role for soil macrofauna in semi-arid systems. Ordinal level diversity also varied significantly within vegetation types and with season.