scholarly journals Do species traits determine patterns of wood production in Amazonian forests?

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 3593-3621 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. R. Baker ◽  
O. L. Phillips ◽  
W. F. Laurance ◽  
N. C. A. Pitman ◽  
S. Almeida ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Groups ◽  
Wood Density ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Community Level ◽  
Maximum Height ◽  
Biomass Growth ◽  
Wood Production

Abstract. Understanding the relationships between plant traits and ecosystem properties at large spatial scales is important for predicting how compositional change will affect carbon cycling in tropical forests. Here, we examine the relationships between species wood density, maximum height and wood production for 60 Amazonian forest plots. Firstly, we examine how community-level species traits vary across Amazonia. Average species maximum height and wood density are low in western, compared to eastern, Amazonia and are negatively correlated with aboveground wood productivity and soil fertility. Secondly, we compare biomass growth rates across functional groups defined on the basis of these two traits. In similar size classes, biomass growth rates vary little between trees that differ in wood density and maximum height. However, biomass growth rates are generally higher in western Amazonia across all functional groups. Thirdly, we ask whether the data on the abundance and average biomass growth rates of different functional groups is sufficient to predict the observed, regional-scale pattern of wood productivity. We find that the lower rate of wood production in eastern compared to western Amazonia cannot be estimated on the basis of this information. Overall, these results suggest that the correlations between community-level trait values and wood productivity in Amazonian forests are not causative: direct environmental control of biomass growth rates appears to be the most important driver of wood production at regional scales. This result contrasts with findings for forest biomass where variation in wood density, associated with variation in species composition, is an important driver of regional-scale patterns. Tropical forest wood productivity may therefore be less sensitive than biomass to compositional change that alters community-level averages of these plant traits.

scholarly journals Do species traits determine patterns of wood production in Amazonian forests?

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. R. Baker ◽  
O. L. Phillips ◽  
W. F. Laurance ◽  
N. C. A. Pitman ◽  
S. Almeida ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Forests ◽  
Wood Density ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Maximum Height ◽  
Biomass Growth ◽  
Compositional Change ◽  
Wood Production ◽  
Regional Gradient ◽  
Amazonian Forests

Abstract. Understanding the relationships between plant traits and ecosystem properties at large spatial scales is important for predicting how compositional change will affect carbon cycling in tropical forests. In this study, we examine the relationships between species wood density, maximum height and above-ground, coarse wood production of trees ≥10 cm diameter (CWP) for 60 Amazonian forest plots. Average species maximum height and wood density are lower in Western than Eastern Amazonia and are negatively correlated with CWP. To test the hypothesis that variation in these traits causes the variation in CWP, we generate plot-level estimates of CWP by resampling the full distribution of tree biomass growth rates whilst maintaining the appropriate tree-diameter and functional-trait distributions for each plot. These estimates are then compared with the observed values. Overall, the estimates do not predict the observed, regional-scale pattern of CWP, suggesting that the variation in community-level trait values does not determine variation in coarse wood productivity in Amazonian forests. Instead, the regional gradient in CWP is caused by higher biomass growth rates across all tree types in Western Amazonia. Therefore, the regional gradient in CWP is driven primarily by environmental factors, rather than the particular functional composition of each stand. These results contrast with previous findings for forest biomass, where variation in wood density, associated with variation in species composition, is an important driver of regional-scale patterns in above-ground biomass. Therefore, in tropical forests, above-ground wood productivity may be less sensitive than biomass to compositional change that alters community-level averages of these plant traits.

scholarly journals Climate and habitat loss interactively restructure trait composition and covariance across a human-modified landscape

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghna Krishnadas
Keyword(s):  
Seed Size ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Elevation Gradient ◽  
C:N Ratio ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Maximum Height ◽  
Peninsular India ◽  
Macro Scale ◽  
Trait Covariance

Species traits influence their response to environmental conditions and the match between phenotypes and environment mediates spatial changes in species composition. These trait-environment linkages can be disrupted in human-modified landscapes. Human land-use creates habitat fragments where dispersal limitation or edge effects can exclude species that may otherwise suit a given macro-scale environment. Furthermore, stressful micro-environments in fragments may limit viable trait combinations resulting in stronger trait covariance compared to contiguous forest, especially in harsher macroenvironments. In a wet tropical forest landscape in the Western Ghats Biodiversity Hotspot of peninsular India, I compared fragments with adjacent contiguous forest for signatures of trait-mediated assembly of tree communities along macroenvironmental gradients. Using four key plant traits—seed size, specific leaf area (SLA), wood density, and maximum height—I evaluated changes in trait-mediated abundances and trait covariance across environmental gradients. Trait-mediated abundances primarily changed along the elevation gradient in contiguous forest, smaller-seeded, shorter, thinner-leaved species increased at higher elevations. In fragments, higher SLA species increased in more seasonal climate and decreased with higher precipitation, and larger seeds decreased at warmer sites. However, traits only weakly predicted abundances and only contiguous forests experienced significant compositional change via traits, driven by trait syndromes varying along a composite environmental gradient defined by elevation, water deficit, and soil C:N ratio. Covariance of seed size and maximum height along gradients of precipitation and temperature revealed divergent constraints on viable phenotypes in fragments and contiguous forest. Notably, local biotic conditions (functional diversity) had stronger effects than environment in explaining trait covariance. Overall, the results imply that trait syndromes and trait covariance, rather than single traits, determine the phenotypes best suited to different macroenvironmental conditions and should inform management or restoration goals in fragments.

scholarly journals Partitioning mortality into growth-dependent and growth-independent hazards across 203 tropical tree species

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (49) ◽  
pp. 12459-12464 ◽  
Author(s):  
James S. Camac ◽  
Richard Condit ◽  
Richard G. FitzJohn ◽  
Lachlan McCalman ◽  
Daniel Steinberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wood Density ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Total Mortality ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Barro Colorado Island ◽  
Maximum Diameter ◽  
Mortality Data ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Hazards Model ◽  
Variation Explained

Tree death drives population dynamics, nutrient cycling, and evolution within plant communities. Mortality variation across species is thought to be influenced by different factors relative to variation within species. The unified model provided here separates mortality rates into growth-dependent and growth-independent hazards. This model creates the opportunity to simultaneously estimate these hazards both across and within species. Moreover, it provides the ability to examine how species traits affect growth-dependent and growth-independent hazards. We derive this unified mortality model using cross-validated Bayesian methods coupled with mortality data collected over three census intervals for 203 tropical rainforest tree species at Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama. We found that growth-independent mortality tended to be higher in species with lower wood density, higher light requirements, and smaller maximum diameter at breast height (dbh). Mortality due to marginal carbon budget as measured by near-zero growth rate tended to be higher in species with lower wood density and higher light demand. The total mortality variation attributable to differences among species was large relative to variation explained by these traits, emphasizing that much remains to be understood. This additive hazards model strengthens our capacity to parse and understand individual-level mortality in highly diverse tropical forests and hence to predict its consequences.

scholarly journals Mowing alters nitrogen effects on the community-level plant stoichiometry through shifting plant functional groups in a semi-arid grassland

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 074031
Author(s):  
Shijie Li ◽  
Fuwei Wang ◽  
Mengfei Chen ◽  
Zhengyi Liu ◽  
Luyao Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Groups ◽  
Community Level ◽  
Plant Functional Groups ◽  
Semi Arid

scholarly journals Plant Functional Groups Dominate Responses of Plant Adaptive Strategies to Urbanization

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yihua Xiao ◽  
Shirong Liu ◽  
Manyun Zhang ◽  
Fuchun Tong ◽  
Zhihong Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Functional Groups ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Adaptive Strategies ◽  
Resource Acquisition ◽  
Shrub Species ◽  
Metal Concentrations ◽  
Heavy Metal Concentrations ◽  
Suburban Areas

Urbanization causes alteration in atmospheric, soil, and hydrological factors and substantially affects a range of morphological and physiological plant traits. Correspondingly, plants might adopt different strategies to adapt to urbanization promotion or pressure. Understanding of plant traits responding to urbanization will reveal the capacity of plant adaptation and optimize the choice of plant species in urbanization green. In this study, four different functional groups (herbs, shrubs, subcanopies, and canopies, eight plant species totally) located in urban, suburban, and rural areas were selected and eight replicated plants were selected for each species at each site. Their physiological and photosynthetic properties and heavy metal concentrations were quantified to reveal plant adaptive strategies to urbanization. The herb and shrub species had significantly higher starch and soluble sugar contents in urban than in suburban areas. Urbanization decreased the maximum photosynthetic rates and total chlorophyll contents of the canopies (Engelhardtia roxburghiana and Schima superba). The herbs (Lophatherum gracile and Alpinia chinensis) and shrubs (Ardisia quinquegona and Psychotria rubra) species in urban areas had significantly lower nitrogen (N) allocated in the cell wall and leaf δ15N values but higher heavy metal concentrations than those in suburban areas. The canopy and subcanopy (Diospyros morrisiana and Cratoxylum cochinchinense) species adapt to the urbanization via reducing resource acquisition but improving defense capacity, while the herb and shrub species improve resource acquisition to adapt to the urbanization. Our current studies indicated that functional groups affected the responses of plant adaptive strategies to the urbanization.

scholarly journals Wildfires and mass effects of dispersal disrupt the local uniformity of type I songs of Hermit Warblers in California

The Auk ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 137 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett J Furnas ◽  
Russ H Landers ◽  
Rauri C K Bowie
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Breeding Habitat ◽  
Type I ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Dominant Type ◽  
Mass Effects ◽  
Pattern Dynamics

Abstract Hermit Warblers (Setophaga occidentalis) sing a formulaic, type I song to attract mates, in contrast to a repertoire of more complex, type II songs to defend territories. A single, dominant type I song, or a low diversity of type I songs, often occur within a geographic area. We provide the first comprehensive description of Hermit Warbler type I song variants throughout California, USA. We recorded type I songs from 1,588 males across 101 study sites in the state from April through July 2009–2014. Using those locations and a pre-existing range map of the species, we created a maximum entropy-based breeding habitat suitability map and classified the songs into 35 variants using a typological rubric. We validated consistent classification of songs for 87.5% of the birds. We then modeled the effects of recent fire history at the local scale (10 yr, 315 km2), the amount of breeding habitat at the regional scale (8,000 km2), and the distance between territories to examine factors involved in song sameness at the local scale. We found that the probability of different birds singing the same form declined with the amount of local fire, regional habitat, and distance, and that these findings were robust to uncertainty in our song classification rubric. Using a longitudinal analysis including additional data from 10 study areas revisited in 2019, we showed that song structure within forms had drifted since our initial visits 5–10 yr earlier, and that the evenness (e.g., Simpson’s measure) of song forms increased at locations that had been burned by wildfire between visits. Taken together, the results suggest that wildfires and the mass effects of dispersal of birds singing rival song forms disrupt the uniformity of type I songs locally. The results demonstrate how species traits, such as birdsong, can be used to disentangle the ecological processes that regulate observed patterns in biodiversity. Further investigation is recommended to determine whether song pattern dynamics reflect underlying genetic differences and habitat specializations among subpopulations.

Crown structural properties, wood density, and liana load: influence on growth and mortality in subtropical forests

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-121
Author(s):  
Sabrina A. Rodríguez ◽  
Piedad M. Cristiano ◽  
Oscar A. Lezcano ◽  
Teresa M. Suirezs ◽  
M. Virginia E. Díaz Villa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Structural Properties ◽  
Wood Density ◽  
Community Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Canopy Tree ◽  
Canopy Position ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Demographic Patterns ◽  
Architectural Traits

Wood density (WD) and other wood mechanical and structural properties may have a strong functional relationship with demographic patterns and allometry of trees. We analyzed the influence of WD, structural properties, architectural traits, and community-level attributes on growth rates (GRs) and mortality modes of canopy tree species in a subtropical forest of Argentina. Stem WD and the WD, strength, stiffness, toughness, and hardness of branches were measured in 10 canopy species. Architectural traits and liana load were also determined. Strength and hardness of branches were linearly correlated to branch WD, and GRs were linearly correlated to stem WD across species. At the individual level, trees with greater hardness and toughness in branches died mostly uprooted, and trees with greater branch stiffness and susceptibility to colonization by lianas were mostly broken. At the community level, the suppressed trees died mostly broken. The dominant trees with high local tree density died mostly broken, whereas more isolated trees died mostly uprooted. Mortality modes were determined not only by mechanical properties, but also by community properties such as liana load, crown canopy position, and number of neighboring trees. Other biophysical traits besides WD are important explanatory variables when dry wood is used to describe functional characteristics of trees.

Age trends in the genetic parameters of wood density and the relationship with growth rates in hybrid larch (Larix gmelinii var. japonica × L. kaempferi) F1

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takaaki Fujimoto ◽  
Kazuhito Kita ◽  
Kazuko Uchiyama ◽  
Makoto Kuromaru ◽  
Hisashi Akutsu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wood Density ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Genetic Parameters ◽  
Larix Gmelinii ◽  
Hybrid Larch ◽  
Age Trends ◽  
The Relationship

Geographic, environmental and biotic sources of variation in the nutrient relations of tropical montane forests

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 368-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Dalling ◽  
Katherine Heineman ◽  
Grizelle González ◽  
Rebecca Ostertag
Keyword(s):  
Plant Traits ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Parent Material ◽  
Montane Forests ◽  
Plant Soil ◽  
Tropical Montane Forests ◽  
Decomposition Of Organic Matter ◽  
High Investment ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
Nutrient Relations

Abstract:Tropical montane forests (TMF) are associated with a widely observed suite of characteristics encompassing forest structure, plant traits and biogeochemistry. With respect to nutrient relations, montane forests are characterized by slow decomposition of organic matter, high investment in below-ground biomass and poor litter quality, relative to tropical lowland forests. However, within TMF there is considerable variation in substrate age, parent material, disturbance and species composition. Here we emphasize that many TMFs are likely to be co-limited by multiple nutrients, and that feedback among soil properties, species traits, microbial communities and environmental conditions drive forest productivity and soil carbon storage. To date, studies of the biogeochemistry of montane forests have been restricted to a few, mostly neotropical, sites and focused mainly on trees while ignoring mycorrhizas, epiphytes and microbial community structure. Incorporating the geographic, environmental and biotic variability in TMF will lead to a greater recognition of plant–soil feedbacks that are critical to understanding constraints on productivity, both under present conditions and under future climate, nitrogen-deposition and land-use scenarios.

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