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295 results for “tropical dry forest”
Seed dispersal syndrome predicts ethanol concentration of fruits in a tropical dry forest
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Data from: Using large-scale tropical dry forest restoration to test successional theory
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Data from: The weight of the crust: biomass of crustose lichens in tropical dry forest represents more than half of foliar biomass
In recent years, our ecological knowledge of tropical dry forests has increased dramatically. However, the functional contributions of whole ecosystem components, such as lichens, remain mostly unknown. In these forests, the abundance of epiphyte crustose lichens is responsible for the characteristic white bark on most woody plants, conspicuous during the dry season, but the amount of resources that the lichen component represents remains unexplored. We estimated lichen biomass in a Mexican tropical dry forest using the bark area of trees, the dry mass of lichens per unit area and the percentage of bark covered by lichens, together with previously known tree densities. The lowest 2.5 m of the forests main trunks contained 188 kg/ha of lichen biomass, with lichens covering 85% of the available bark for trees <12 cm DBH and 38% for trees >12 cm. Total epiphytic lichen biomass was 1.34–1.99 Mg/ha. Lichen biomass represented 61% of the foliar biomass in the forest. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a lichen biomass estimate is provided for an ecosystem in which crustose lichens are the dominant lichen growth form. Crustose lichens are typically considered to contribute little to the total lichen biomass and to be difficult to include in ecological analyses. The high lichen biomass in this ecosystem implies a significant ecological role which so far is unexplored. We suggest the crustose lichen component should not be underestimated a priori in ecological studies, especially in ecosystems with abundant lichen cover.
Data from: Evolutionary constraints on tree size and aboveground biomass in tropical dry forests
<p>1. The extent (or lack) of phylogenetic signal for key ecological traits reveals the role of evolutionary processes on present-day ecosystem function and hints on future ecological trends under climate change scenarios. This approach has been applied to South American tropical moist forests, but not to the highly threatened seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTF), despite acknowledgement of their unique evolutionary history. To fill this knowledge gap, we investigated the legacy of evolutionary processes on vital ecological characteristics among SDTF trees: regional dominance, tree size and soil preference.</p> <p>2. We used tree community data on 313 plots of SDTF (12.52 hectares) and locally collected soil data in central-eastern Brazil. For each assessed trait (three for regional dominance, three for tree size and nine for soil preference), we investigated the legacy of evolution using two different approaches: calculating the extent of phylogenetic signal and comparing the fit of four different models of evolution.</p> <p>3. Aboveground woody biomass and tree size showed strong phylogenetic signal. Most of the SDTF biomass stock was concentrated in a few large-sized and closely related tree genera. Among the soil preference variables, only phosphorus displayed significant, albeit weak, phylogenetic signal.</p> <p>4. Synthesis. Our study is the first to show that evolutionary constraints related to tree size significantly determine regional biomass stocks of SDTF in a few closely related tree lineages. This suggests that even isolated SDTF fragments with low taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity can play an important role in the global carbon cycle, storing disproportionally large amounts of carbon in trees that belong to high-biomass lineages. Whether these lineages also share climate change-induced mortality risk deserves future investigation, as they are largely responsible for the maintenance of regional SDTF biomass stocks.</p>
Data from: Contrasting patterns of leaf trait variation among and within species during tropical dry forest succession in Costa Rica
A coordinated response to environmental drivers amongst individual functional traits is central to the plant strategy concept. However, whether the trait co-ordination observed at the global scale occurs at other ecological scales (especially within species) remains an open question. Here, for sapling communities of two tropical dry forest types in Costa Rica, we show large differences amongst traits in the relative contribution of species turnover and intraspecific variation to their directional changes in response to environmental changes along a successional gradient. We studied the response of functional traits associated with the leaf economics spectrum and drought tolerance using intensive sampling to analyse inter- and intra-specific responses to environmental changes and ontogeny. Although the overall functional composition of the sapling communities changed during succession more through species turnover than through intraspecific trait variation, their relative contributions differed greatly amongst traits. For instance, community mean specific leaf area changed mostly due to intraspecific variation. Traits of the leaf economics spectrum showed decoupled responses to environmental drivers and ontogeny. These findings emphasise how divergent ecological mechanisms combine to cause great differences in changes of individual functional traits over environmental gradients and ecological scales.
Bats use live fences to move between tropical dry forest remnants
<p>Linear features can benefit wildlife by assisting animal movement. We captured bats along barbed-wire and live-tree fences connecting Tropical Dry Forest patches in Nicaragua. Bat species richness and captures were higher along live fences but we noted differences in sex ratios, richness, and species composition compared to surrounding natural forests.</p>
Data from: Plant community responses to stand-level nutrient fertilization in a secondary tropical dry forest
The size of the terrestrial carbon (C) sink is mediated by the availability of nutrients that limit plant growth. However, nutrient controls on primary productivity are poorly understood in the geographically extensive yet understudied tropical dry forest biome. To examine how nutrients influence above‐ and belowground biomass production in a secondary, seasonally dry tropical forest, we conducted a replicated, fully factorial nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilization experiment at the stand scale in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The production of leaves, wood, and fine roots was monitored through time; root colonization by mycorrhizal fungi and the abundance of N‐fixing root nodules were also quantified. In this seasonal forest, interannual variation in rainfall had the largest influence on stand‐level productivity, with lower biomass growth under drought. By contrast, aboveground productivity was generally not increased by nutrient addition, although fertilization enhanced growth of individual tree stems in a wet year. However, root growth increased markedly and consistently under P addition, significantly altering patterns of stand‐level biomass allocation to above‐ vs. belowground compartments. Although nutrients did not stimulate total biomass production at the community scale, N‐fixing legumes exhibited a twofold increase in woody growth in response to added P, accompanied by a dramatic increase in the abundance of root nodules. These data suggest that the relationship between nutrient availability and primary production in tropical dry forest is contingent on both water availability and plant functional diversity.
Data from: Effects of soil type and light on height growth, biomass partitioning, and nitrogen dynamics on 22 species of tropical dry forest tree seedlings: comparisons between legumes and nonlegumes
PREMISE OF THE STUDY: The seedling stage is particularly vulnerable to resource limitation, with potential consequences for community composition. We investigated how light and soil variation affected early growth, biomass partitioning, morphology, and physiology of 22 tree species common in tropical dry forest, including eight legumes. Our hypothesis was that legume seedlings are better at taking advantage of increased resource availability, which contributes to their successful regeneration in tropical dry forests. METHODS: We grew seedlings in a full-factorial design under two light levels in two soil types that differed in nutrient concentrations and soil moisture. We measured height biweekly and, at final harvest, biomass partitioning, internode segments, leaf carbon, nitrogen, δ 13 C, and δ 15 N. KEY RESULTS: Legumes initially grew taller and maintained that height advantage over time under all experimental conditions. Legumes also had the highest final total biomass and water-use efficiency in the high-light and high-resource soil. For nitrogen-fixing legumes, the amount of nitrogen derived from fixation was highest in the richer soil. Although seed mass tended to be larger in legumes, seed size alone did not account for all the differences between legumes and nonlegumes. Both belowground and aboveground resources were limiting to early seedling growth and function. CONCLUSIONS: Legumes may have a different regeneration niche, in that they germinate rapidly and grow taller than other species immediately after germination, maximizing their performance when light and belowground resources are readily available, and potentially permitting them to take advantage of high light, nutrient, and water availability at the beginning of the wet season.
Data from: Edaphic factors, successional status, and functional traits drive habitat associations of trees in naturally regenerating tropical dry forests
1. Many studies have examined individual environmental drivers of tropical tree species distributions, but edaphic and successional gradients have not been considered simultaneously. Furthermore, determining how functional traits influence species distributions along these gradients may help to elucidate mechanisms behind community assembly. 2. To assess the influence of environmental filtering on tropical dry forest (TDF) tree species distributions we used forest inventory data from sites with large edaphic and successional gradients in NW Costa Rica. Our goals were to determine (1) whether edaphic or successional factors are more important determinants of the abundance of individual tree species in regenerating TDF, (2) how species-level functional traits are related to edaphic and/or successional niche associations of tree species, and (3) correlations between species-level edaphic and successional niche associations. 3. The distributions of 82 focal tree species were strongly driven by both edaphic and successional gradients. Overall, 94% of species responded to soil chemistry, 89% to soil texture, and 94% to stand age gradients. Some functional traits were correlated with the edaphic and successional niche associations of TDF tree species. Species that specialized on soils with high total nutrient concentrations had higher foliar nutrient concentrations (nitrogen and phosphorus) and lower leaf dry matter content (LDMC). Species with wider stand age niches had lower LDMC and wood density. There were no correlations between edaphic and successional niche optima of TDF tree species. 4. Our results indicate that successional and edaphic gradients concurrently drive community assembly in regenerating TDF. Moreover, our work underscores the importance of considering how the functional characteristics of TDF trees dictates species distributions across environmental gradients.
Fig. 2 in Long-term changes in avian relative abundances in relation to human disturbance in a tropical dry forest in central Myanmar
Fig. 2. Annual rainfall measured adjacent to Chatthin Wildlife Sanctuary 1999–2020.
Fig. 3. Forest cover within 300 in Long-term changes in avian relative abundances in relation to human disturbance in a tropical dry forest in central Myanmar
Fig. 3. Forest cover within 300 meters of bird survey points in 1999 and 2020.
Diversity patterns along ecological succession in tropical dry forests: A multi-taxonomic approach
<p>Evaluating the diversity of multiple taxa is fundamental to understand community assembly and to assess the integrity and functionality of tropical secondary forests. In this study, we analyzed the natural regeneration of tropical dry forests (TDFs) in three regions of Brazil using Hill-Simpson diversity, abundance and β-diversity of trees and five groups of insects (herbivores, fruit-feeding butterflies, ants, culicid mosquitoes and dung beetles). Sampling was conducted in 39 0.1 ha plots using a chronosequence approach (13 plots in early, intermediate and old-growth forests). We evaluated the contribution of three different levels to γ-diversity: α (within plots), β¹ (among plots) and β² (among successional stages), and further determined the relative importance of turnover (species replacement) and nestedness (differences in species number among sites) to β². Our results showed that, unexpectedly, the Hill-Simpson diversity was consistently higher in early than old-growth stages for all regions, but varied more widely in the intermediate stages. For each group separately, the same trend was observed for butterflies, ants, dung beetles and herbivores and did not differ among stages for mosquitoes. Successional differences in abundance were only detected for trees (increasing along the gradient) and for mosquitoes (decreasing). According to our expectations, the additive partitioning analysis showed that β2-diversity contributed more to γ-diversity than β1-diversity, when all taxa were considered together and for most of them separately (except for butterflies and dung beetles). Most of the β²-diversity was due to species turnover, but this contribution varied among groups and regions, with the highest turnover for herbivores and the lowest for dung beetles. Our results suggest that the Hill-Simpson diversity and changes in species composition (as given by β²-diversity) are better indicators of forest natural regeneration than raw species richness, corroborating previous studies with plants and animals.</p>
Data for: The interplay of environmental cues and wood density in the vegetative and reproductive phenology of seasonally dry tropical forest trees
<p>The great phenological diversification characteristic of seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTF) suggests that these patterns result from a complex interplay between exogenous (e.g., climatic) and endogenous (e.g., morphological, physiological, anatomical) factors. Based on the well-established relationships of wood density with water-storing capacity and cavitation vulnerability in woody plants, we hypothesized differential vegetative and reproductive phenological responses to environmental cues for hardwood and softwood species. To test this hypothesis, we compared phenological patterns of pairs of conspecific populations of 10 species differing in wood density, occurring in two localities with slightly different climatic regimes, and evaluated the influence of three environmental variables (rainfall, photoperiod, temperature) on them. Our results, based on the assessment of the overlap of the phenological curves of conspecific populations occurring in different sites and on linear modeling, showed different effects of the environmental factors on phenophase attributes, depending on wood density of the study species, thus supporting our hypothesis. Leaf out in softwood species took place in the dry season, they shed the foliage at the first signs of drought, and once leafless, they flowered and fruited shortly after. By contrast, hardwood species bore leaves and flowers in the rainy season, shed their leaves several months after the rain ceased, and produced fruits during the dry season. We conclude that the role of environmental variables in cueing growth and reproduction cycles in SDTF tree species is interrelated with their wood density, a key endogenous factor crucially linked to plant hydraulics in these water-limited ecosystems.</p>
Data for: "Above and below ground trait coordination in tree seedlings depend on the most limiting resource: A test comparing a wet and a dry tropical forest in Mexico" by L. Sanaphre-Villanueva, F. Pineda-Garcia, W. Dattilo, L. F. Pinzon-Perez, A. Ricaño Rocha, H. Paz.
<p>These data represent those published in “Above and below ground trait coordination in tree seedlings depend on the most limiting resource: A test comparing a wet and a dry tropical forest in Mexico” by L. Sanaphre-Villanueva, F. Pineda-Garcia, W. Dattilo, L. F. Pinzon-Perez, A. Ricaño Rocha, H. Paz. PeerJ. 2022.</p>
Phenological status of plants in the very tropical dry forests of Curaçao
<p>Tropical dry plant formations comprise diverse forests found in areas that experience pronounced seasonal changes in precipitation. Across broad regions, variation in the amount and distribution of precipitation determine the availability of water, and thus differences in species composition and phenology. Within any given region hydrology and topographic position, and geologic substrate may underlie additional differences in forest attributes. Of these three factors, geologic substrate is the least understood but it has been suggested that its influence on tropical dry forests, and more broadly speaking tropical forests, results from a combination of mechanisms regulating the use of water and nutrients. Phenological studies at population, community, and system levels acknowledge the significance of plan phenology for different ecological processes. Thus, characterizing phenological patterns at multiple levels of biological organization as a function of geologic substrate is important to assess the diversity of behaviors, and ultimately vulnerability of tropical dry forests to climate change. A study conducted in Curaçao between September of 1992 to February of 1995 at three sites underlaing by different geologies provided a unique opportunity to investigate the extent to which plant phenology diverges in regions underlain by different geologies.</p>
Data for: "Different dry-wet pulses favor different functional strategies: a test using tropical dry forest tree species" by Vega-Ramos, Flor, Cifuentes Gómez, Lucas, Pineda-García, Fernando, Dawson, Todd, Paz, Horacio
<p>These data represent those published in "Different dry-wet pulses favor different functional strategies: a test using tropical dry forest tree species" by Vega-Ramos, Flor, Cifuentes Gómez, Lucas, Pineda-García, Fernando, Dawson, Todd, Paz, Horacio</p>
Effects of fire and invasive plants on tropical dry forest restorartion
<p>The data collected is part of monitoring the ecological restoration process in a tropical dry forest. In this process, my research team conducted an experimental exercise, aiming to assess the natural regeneration around planted seedlings in burned sites compared to unburned sites. Additionally, we aimed to examine the effects of invasive species recruits and ruderal vegetation removal on seedlings and natural regeneration in both burned and unburned sites. For this research, we measured the planted seedlings and recorded the following data: height, weight, crown diameter, amount of radiation, and distance from the remaining forest edge. Furthermore, we counted the number of recruits, identified and searched for invasive potential in another database such as CABI.</p> <p>The planted seedlings were measured at two times; the first measurement was taken four months after planting, immediately after removing the ruderal vegetation around them. Forty-five days later, another round of ruderal vegetation removal in the plots was conducted, and after an additional 75 days, a final characterization of regeneration was performed</p>
Large trees in tropical dry forest facilitate the presence of stingless bee nests (Apidae: Meliponini): the case of Ficus crocata
<p>[ESP]</p> <p>Este repositorio contiene archivos .csv y .r, de los datos se utilizaron para el análisis estadístico del artículo de Manzanarez-Villasana, Briseño-Sánchez, Lobo y Quesada </p> <p>[ENG]</p> <p>This repository contains .csv and .r files of the data used for the statistical analysis of the article by Manzanarez-Villasana, Briseño-Sánchez, Lobo y Quesada </p>
Data from: Lianas abundance is positively related with the avian acoustic community in tropical dry forests
Dry forests are important sources of biodiversity where lianas are highly abundant given their ability to grow during times of drought and as a result of secondary growth processes. Lianas provide food and shelter for fauna such as birds, but there are no studies assessing the influence of liana abundance on birds in dry forests. Here we evaluate the influence of liana abundance on the avian acoustic community in the dry forests of Costa Rica at Santa Rosa National Park. We selected forest sites with different levels of liana abundance and set up automated sound recorders for data collection, analysis and estimation of the avian acoustic community. When the number of lianas increases, the avian acoustic community becomes more complex. Lianas could provide important direct and indirect resources for birds such as structure for shelter, protection, nesting and roosting, and food. The positive relationship that lianas have with birds is particularly important in dry forests where lianas are becoming highly abundant due to the level of forest disturbance and climate change, especially for some bird species that are restricted to this ecosystem. By validating the number of bird species detected in the recordings with the acoustic complexity index, we found that a higher acoustic complexity means higher species richness.
Autogenic regulation and resilience in tropical dry forest
<p>1. Engineering resilience, a forest's ability to maintain its properties in the event of disturbance, comprises two components: resistance and recovery. In human-dominated landscapes, forest resilience depends mostly on recovery. Forest recovery largely depends on autogenic regulation, which entails a negative feedback loop between rates of change of forest state variables and state variables themselves. Hence community dynamics changes in response to deviations from forest equilibrium state. Based on the premise that autogenic regulation is a key aspect of the recovery process, here we tested the hypothesis that combined old-growth forest (OGF) and secondary forest (SF) dynamics should show autogenic regulation in state variables, and thus convergence towards OGF-based reference points, indicating forest resilience.</p> <p>2. We integrated dynamic data for OGF (11-year monitoring) and SF (16-year monitoring) to analyse three key state variables (basal area, tree density, species richness), their annual rates of change, and their underlying demographic processes (recruitment, growth, mortality). We examined autogenic regulation through generalized linear mixed-effects models (GLMMs) to quantify functional relationships between rates of change of state variables (and underlying demographic processes), and their respective state variables.</p> <p>3. State variables in OGF decreased moderately over time, against our prediction of OGF constancy. In turn, the three state variables analysed showed negative relationships with their respective rates of change, which allows the return of SF to OGF values after disturbance. In all cases, recruitment decreased with increasing values in state variables, while mortality increased.</p> <p>4. The observed negative relationships between state variables, their rates of change and their underlying demographic processes support our hypothesis of integrated OGF and SF dynamics showing autogenic regulation for state variables. Competition seems to be a major driver of autogenic regulation given its dependence on a resource availability that declines as forest structure develops.</p> <p>5. Synthesis. Based on a straightforward and comprehensive approach to quantify the extent to which tropical forest dynamics is self-regulated, this study highlights the role of autogenic regulation in tropical dry forest as a basic component of its resilience. This approach is potentially valuable for a generalised assessment of engineering resilience of forests worldwide.</p>
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Allen Brain Atlas
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Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
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