Short dry spells in the wet season increase mortality of tropical pioneer seedlings

Oecologia
Bettina M J EngelbrechtThomas A Kursar

Abstract

Variation in plant species performance in response to water availability offers a potential axis for temporal and spatial habitat partitioning and may therefore affect community composition in tropical forests. We hypothesized that short dry spells during the wet season are a significant source of mortality for the newly emerging seedlings of pioneer species that recruit in treefall gaps in tropical forests. An analysis of a 49-year rainfall record for three forests across a rainfall gradient in central Panama confirmed that dry spells of > or = 10 days during the wet season occur on average once a year in a deciduous forest, and once every other year in a semi-deciduous moist and an evergreen wet forest. The effect of wet season dry spells on the recruitment of pioneers was investigated by comparing seedling survival in rain-protected dry plots and irrigated control plots in four large artificially created treefall gaps in a semi-deciduous tropical forest. In rain-protected plots surface soil layers dried rapidly, leading to a strong gradient in water potential within the upper 10 cm of soil. Seedling survival for six pioneer species was significantly lower in rain-protected than in irrigated control plots after only 4 days. T...Continue Reading

References

Oct 19, 2001·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·R P Walsh, D M Newbery
Jun 18, 2003·Oecologia·Bettina M J Engelbrecht, Thomas A Kursar
Jan 1, 1989·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·William R Rice
Jul 1, 1990·The New Phytologist·Ceri E Evans, John R Etherington

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Citations

Oct 22, 2010·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Robert J Warren, Mark A Bradford
Jun 3, 2009·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Justin Charles Touchon, Karen Michelle Warkentin
Jun 24, 2011·Plant, Cell & Environment·Fernando Pineda-GarcíaClara Tinoco-Ojanguren
Jul 1, 2013·Functional Plant Biology : FPB·Lucas A CernusakS Joseph Wright
Mar 1, 2016·The New Phytologist·Katherine D HeinemanJames W Dalling

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