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Reproductive Phenology of Central Amazon Pioneer Trees [ pages 186-203 ]Tony V. Bentos1, Rita C. G. Mesquita1, G. Bruce Williamson2
2 Dept. of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-1705, USA and Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA) and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), C. P. Manaus, Amazonas, CEP 69083-000, BRAZIL. Abstract We characterized the dispersal modes and spatial patterns of 128 tree species in a tropical semi-evergreen forest of Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India. A high percentage of species are animal-dispersed (78%), while about 22% (28) are dispersed abiotically (wind or gravity-dispersed). Of the animal-dispersed species, 54 species were primarily bird-dispersed, 25 were mammal-dispersed, and 21 were dispersed by both groups. We hypothesized that adult tree distribution patterns were related to dispersal mode and fruit size. We predicted that tree species with mechanisms for long-distance seed dispersal are likely to show more uniform or random spatial patterns than those with limited seed dispersal. Tree species with large fruits were also predicted to have greater levels of clumping than those that have small fruits. However, all tree species had a clumped distribution pattern. At the community level, we found no differences in spatial patterns based on dispersal mode for a subset of 50 tree species. Fruit size was, however, positively correlated with higher levels of spatial aggregation suggesting that tree species distributions are to an extent limited by dispersal. The importance of dispersal mode in determining adult tree distribution patterns at the community level may be obscured by interacting effects of other factors such as patchy habitat conditions and density-dependent mortality factors at different life-history stages that ultimately determine adult tree distributions. Full Text PDF General interest news article Reader comments are generally moderated. If you find something inappropriate, please contact Tropical Conservation Science. The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other authors or Tropical Conservation Science. |
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Tropical Conservation Science is an open-access e-journal that publishes research relating to conservation of tropical forests and other tropical ecosystems.
Volume 1: Issue 3 Table of Contents Articles News article All issues Mar 2008 Jun 2008 Sep 2008 Dec 2008 Mar 2009 Jun 2009 Sep 2009 Dec 2009 Mar 2010 Jun 2010 Sep 2010 Dec 2010 Mar 2011 Jun 2011 Sep 2011 Dec 2011 Mar 2012 Jun 2012 Sep 2012 Dec 2012 Mar 2013 Jun 2013 Aug 2013 Sep 2013 Nov 2013 Dec 2013 Mar 2014 Jun 2014 Sep 2014 Dec 2014 Mar 2015 Jun 2015 Sep 2015 Dec 2015 Mar 2016 Jun 2016 Most downloaded 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 All time ADVERTISEMENT SEARCH  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. |
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