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Regeneration niche partitioning in neotropical pioneers: effects of gap size, seasonal drought and herbivory on growth and survival

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Abstract

Adaptive trade-offs underlie the specialisation that permits habitat partitioning in species rich plant communities. We investigated the influence of the trade-offs that determine differences in growth and survival among six species of neotropical pioneer trees in gaps in semideciduous forest in Panama. Seedlings of Miconia argentea, Cecropia insignis, Luehea seemannii, Trema micrantha, Ochroma pyramidale and Croton bilbergianus were planted into artificial small (25 m2), medium (64 m2) and large (225 m2) gaps in secondary forest in the Barro Colorado Nature Monument. Trema and Ochroma suffered ≥50% mortality across all gap sizes, while Cecropia had high mortality only during the dry season and in the small gaps, and Miconia and Croton suffered low to zero mortality across all environments. The highest growth rates in large gaps were attained by Cecropia seedlings and in the smaller gaps by Miconia seedlings, although there were indications that Trema and Ochroma required gaps that were larger than any used in this study. Variation in growth and mortality could not be attributed to differences in foliar herbivore damage. Instead, there was strong evidence of a trade-off between maximum growth in the wet season and the ability to survive seasonal drought, particularly in small gaps. We conclude that variation in allocation in response to multiple limiting resources may be as important as allocation to growth and defence in determining the habitat preferences of neotropical pioneers.

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Acknowledgements

We thank David Galvez, Tobias Koehler, Alyssa Stocks, Javier Ballesteros and Evelyn Sánchez for field assistance; and Scott Mangan, David Galvez, Lissy Coley, Tom Kursar, Joe Wright and Chris Mullins for helpful discussions at different stages in the development of the project. Facilities were provided by The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Financial support was provided by The Leverhulme Trust (studentship to T.R.H.P.) and the Natural Environment Research Council. We are grateful to Professor Koerner and two anonymous reviewers for comments that improved the manuscript.

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  1. T. R. H. Pearson

    Present address: Winrock International, 1621 North Kent Street, Suite 1200, Arlington, VA 22209, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant and Soil Science, University of Aberdeen, Cruickshank Building, St Machar Drive, Aberdeen, AB24 3UU, UK

    T. R. H. Pearson & D. F. R. P. Burslem

  2. STRI, Unit 0948, APO, AA, 34002-0948, USA

    R. E. Goeriz & J. W. Dalling

  3. Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

    J. W. Dalling

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  1. T. R. H. Pearson
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  4. J. W. Dalling
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Correspondence to T. R. H. Pearson.

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Pearson, T.R.H., Burslem, D.F.R.P., Goeriz, R.E. et al. Regeneration niche partitioning in neotropical pioneers: effects of gap size, seasonal drought and herbivory on growth and survival. Oecologia 137, 456–465 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1361-x

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