SEED DISPERSAL AND RECRUITMENT LIMITATION ACROSS SPATIAL SCALES IN TEMPERATE FOREST FRAGMENTS

Pre-industrial forest cover portrait is a recognized method for establishing the bases of sustainable forest management. However, it is a spatially and temporally dependant concept that should be used with caution in presence of big fires. The objective of the study was to portray the pre-industrial landscape in a mixedwood temperate forest in central Quebec at different spatial scales. The study was based on archival records from a forest company. The pre-industrial forest cover landscape of our study area was mainly composed of mature or old-growth (>100 years) stands and dominated by mixedwood forest stands with intolerant hardwoods. The main tree species were white birch, black spruce and jack pine, three species associated to forest succession after fire in the boreal forest. Considering the great variability caused by the fires and partial knowledge of this variability, for each spatial scale considered, we propose some management targets based on the main pre-industrial characteristics of this forest. To respect the pre-industrial variability, our study suggested that silviculture should be adapted at different landscape scales. Cover types and age class targets should be based on main preindustrial characteristics at each landscape scale analyzed.

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Spatial Variation in Canopy Structure across Forest Landscapes

10.20944/preprints201806.0351.v1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Brady S. Hardiman ◽

Elizabeth A. LaRue ◽

Jeff W. Atkins ◽

Robert T. Fahey ◽

Franklin W. Wagner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Temperate Forest ◽

Forest Canopy ◽

Spatial Scales ◽

Canopy Structure ◽

Ecosystem Functions ◽

Lidar System ◽

Stable Point ◽

Eastern Usa ◽

Forested Landscapes ◽

Patch Scale

Forest canopy structure (CS) controls many ecosystem functions and is highly variable across landscapes, but the magnitude and scale of this variation is not well understood. We used a portable canopy lidar system to characterize variation in five categories of CS along N = 3 transects (140–800 m long) at each of six forested landscapes within the eastern USA. The cumulative coefficient of variation was calculated for subsegments of each transect to determine the point of stability for individual CS metrics. We then quantified the scale at which CS is autocorrelated using Moran’s I in an Incremental Autocorrelation analysis. All CS metrics reached stable values within 300 m but varied substantially within and among forested landscapes. A stable point of 300 m for CS metrics corresponds with the spatial extent that many ecosystem functions are measured and modeled. Additionally, CS metrics were spatially autocorrelated at 40 to 88 m, suggesting that patch scale disturbance or environmental factors drive these patterns. Our study shows CS is heterogeneous across temperate forest landscapes at the scale of 10’s of meters, requiring a resolution of this size for upscaling CS with remote sensing to large spatial scales.

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First evidence of epizoochorous seed dispersal by golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana) in temperate forest

Plant Ecology ◽

10.1007/s11258-018-0805-7 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 219 (4) ◽

pp. 417-427 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Yuan Chen ◽

Haochun Chen ◽

Youji Zhang ◽

Hui Yao ◽

Wanji Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Seed Dispersal ◽

Temperate Forest ◽

Rhinopithecus Roxellana

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Contributions of seed dispersal and demography to recruitment limitation in a Costa Rican cloud forest.

Seed dispersal and frugivory: ecology, evolution and conservation. Third International Symposium-Workshop on Frugivores and Seed Dispersal, São Pedro, Brazil, 6-11 August 2000 ◽

10.1079/9780851995250.0323 ◽

2009 ◽

pp. 323-338 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

K. G. Murray ◽

J. M. Garcia-C.

Keyword(s):

Seed Dispersal ◽

Cloud Forest ◽

Costa Rican ◽

Recruitment Limitation

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Defaunation precipitates the extinction of evolutionarily distinct interactions in the Anthropocene

Science Advances ◽

10.1126/sciadv.aav6699 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (6) ◽

pp. eaav6699 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Carine Emer ◽

Mauro Galetti ◽

Marco A. Pizo ◽

Pedro Jordano ◽

Miguel Verdú

Keyword(s):

Seed Dispersal ◽

Evolutionary History ◽

Bird Species ◽

Forest Fragments ◽

Ecological Interactions ◽

Rescue Effect ◽

History Of ◽

Local Extinctions ◽

Functional Features ◽

Avian Seed Dispersal

Species on Earth are interconnected with each other through ecological interactions. Defaunation can erode those connections, yet we lack evolutionary predictions about the consequences of losing interactions in human-modified ecosystems. We quantified the fate of the evolutionary history of avian–seed dispersal interactions across tropical forest fragments by combining the evolutionary distinctness of the pairwise-partner species, a proxy to their unique functional features. Both large-seeded plant and large-bodied bird species showed the highest evolutionary distinctness. We estimate a loss of 3.5 to 4.7 × 104 million years of cumulative evolutionary history of interactions due to defaunation. Bird-driven local extinctions mainly erode the most evolutionarily distinct interactions. However, the persistence of less evolutionarily distinct bird species in defaunated areas exerts a phylogenetic rescue effect through seed dispersal of evolutionarily distinct plant species.

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Similarity between seed rain and neighbouring mature tree communities in an old-growth temperate forest

Journal of Forestry Research ◽

10.1007/s11676-019-01027-3 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (6) ◽

pp. 2435-2444

Author(s):

Yunyun Wang ◽

Jalene M. LaMontagne ◽

Fei Lin ◽

Zuoqiang Yuan ◽

Ji Ye ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Seed Dispersal ◽

Temperate Forest ◽

Community Dynamics ◽

Basal Area ◽

Seed Rain ◽

Mature Trees ◽

Data Set ◽

Deposition Patterns ◽

Tree Communities ◽

Tree Traits

Abstract Seed distribution and deposition patterns around parent trees are strongly affected by functional traits and therefore influence the development of plant communities. To assess the limitations of seed dispersal and the extent to which diaspore and neighbouring parental traits explain seed rain, we used a 9-year seed data set based on 150 seed traps in a 25-ha area of a temperate forest in the Changbai Mountain. Among 480,598 seeds belonging to 12 families, 17 genera, and 26 species were identified, only 54% of the species with mature trees in the community were represented in seeds collected over the 9 years, indicating a limitation in seed dispersal. Understory species were most limited; overstory species were least limited. Species with wind-dispersed seed had the least limitation, while the lowest similarity in species richness was for animal-dispersed species followed by gravity-dispersed species; fleshy-fruited species had stronger dispersal limitations than dry-fruited species. Generalized linear mixed models showed that relative basal area had a significant positive effect on seed abundance in traps, while the contribution of diaspore traits was low for nearly all groups. These results suggest that tree traits had the strongest contribution to seed dispersal and deposition for all functional groups examined here. These findings strengthen the knowledge that tree traits are key in explaining seed deposition patterns, at least at the primary dispersal stage. This improved knowledge of sources of seeds that are dispersed could facilitate greater understanding of seedling and community dynamics in temperate forests.

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Seed dispersal and recruitment limitation are barriers to native recolonization of old-fields in western Australia

Journal of Applied Ecology ◽

10.1111/j.1365-2664.2006.01262.x ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 44 (2) ◽

pp. 435-445 ◽

Cited By ~ 105

Author(s):

R. J. STANDISH ◽

V. A. CRAMER ◽

S. L. WILD ◽

R. J. HOBBS

Keyword(s):

Seed Dispersal ◽

Western Australia ◽

Recruitment Limitation ◽

Old Fields

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Changes in seed rain during secondary succession in a tropical montane cloud forest region in Oaxaca, Mexico

Journal of Tropical Ecology ◽

10.1017/s0266467408005142 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 433-444 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

R. F. del Castillo ◽

M. A. Pérez Ríos

Keyword(s):

Seed Dispersal ◽

Secondary Succession ◽

Cloud Forest ◽

Seed Rain ◽

Stand Age ◽

Primary Forest ◽

Forest Fragments ◽

Long Distance ◽

Southern Mexico ◽

Tropical Montane Cloud Forests

AbstractSeed dispersal is the first stage of colonization, and potentially affects recruitment. This process deserves more attention in tropical montane cloud forests (TMCF), since secondary succession is common owing to episodic disturbances. We studied annual seed rain in 10 nearby forest stands, ≈7 to ≈100 y following shifting agriculture, and one primary forest stand in southern Mexico to test the hypothesis that seed rain is limited at the scale of neighbouring fragments and that such limitation differs among species with different dispersal modes and successional origin. Annual seed rain was heterogeneous among forest fragments probably due to the prevalence of local seed dispersal, differences in stand age and the proportion of zoochory, and may help explain the patchy distribution of species observed in TMCF. Seed rain abundance and species diversity per unit trap area increased with the age of the stand. Biotically dispersed seeds increased towards older stands relative to abiotically dispersed seeds. Late-successional seeds were rarer in early successional stands than pioneer seeds in late-successional stands, suggesting that long-distance dispersal is generally more common for pioneer plants. Seed dispersal appears to constrain forest regeneration and to influence fragment species composition as a function of the distance from the source forests.

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Successional status, seed dispersal mode and overstorey species influence tree regeneration in tropical rain-forest fragments in Western Ghats, India

Journal of Tropical Ecology ◽

10.1017/s0266467417000219 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 33 (4) ◽

pp. 270-284 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Anand M. Osuri ◽

Dayani Chakravarthy ◽

Divya Mudappa ◽

T. R. Shankar Raman ◽

N. Ayyappan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Seed Dispersal ◽

Western Ghats ◽

Tree Regeneration ◽

Forest Fragments ◽

Tropical Rain Forests ◽

Rain Forests ◽

Old Growth ◽

Successional Species ◽

The Western Ghats

Abstract:The effects of fragmentation and overstorey tree diversity on tree regeneration were assessed in tropical rain forests of the Western Ghats, India. Ninety plots were sampled for saplings (1–5 cm diameter at breast height (dbh); 5×5-m plots) and overstorey trees (>9.55 cm dbh; 20×20-m plots) within two fragments (32 ha and 18 ha) and two continuous forests. We tested the hypotheses that fragmentation and expected seed-dispersal declines (1) reduce sapling densities and species richness of all species and old-growth species, and increase recruitment of early-successional species, (2) reduce the prevalence of dispersed recruits and (3) increase influence of local overstorey on sapling densities and richness. Continuous forests and fragments had similar sapling densities and species richness overall, but density and richness of old-growth species declined by 62% and 48%, respectively, in fragments. Fragments had 39% lower densities and 24% lower richness of immigrant saplings (presumed dispersed into sites as conspecific adults were absent nearby), and immigrant densities of old-growth bird-dispersed species declined by 79%. Sapling species richness (overall and old-growth) increased with overstorey species richness in fragments, but was unrelated to overstorey richness in continuous forests. Our results show that while forest fragments retain significant sapling diversity, losses of immigrant recruits and increased overstorey influence strengthen barriers to natural regeneration of old-growth tropical rain forests.

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