DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2013.08.029
Scopus记录号: 2-s2.0-84884715438
论文题名: Herbivores equalize the seedling height growth of three dominant tree species in an African tropical rain forest
作者: Norghauer J.M. ; Newbery D.M.
刊名: Forest Ecology and Management
ISSN: 0378-1127
出版年: 2013
卷: 310 起始页码: 555
结束页码: 566
语种: 英语
英文关键词: Herbivore exclusion
; Korup-Cameroon
; Light environment
; Microberlinia bisulcata
; Recruitment limitation
; Seedling herbivory
Scopus关键词: Herbivore exclusion
; Korup-Cameroon
; Light environment
; Microberlinia bisulcata
; Recruitment limitation
; Seedling herbivory
; Animals
; Conservation
; Plants (botany)
; Rain
; Seed
; Reforestation
; canopy gap
; coexistence
; disturbance
; dominance
; ecological modeling
; growing season
; growth rate
; habitat restoration
; harvesting
; height
; herbivory
; legume
; pest control
; plant-herbivore interaction
; plant-insect interaction
; rainfall
; rainforest
; recruitment (population dynamics)
; regeneration
; restoration ecology
; sapling
; seedling
; shade tolerance
; survival
; understory
; vigor
; Cameroon
; Korup National Park
; Sud Ouest Province
英文摘要: Determining the impact of insect herbivores on forest tree seedlings and saplings is difficult without experimentation in the field. Moreover, this impact may be heterogeneous in time and space because of seasonal rainfall and canopy disturbances, or 'gaps', which can influence both insect abundance and plant performance. In this study we used fine netting to individually protect seedlings of Microberlinia bisulcata, Tetraberlinia bifoliolata and Tetraberlinia korupensis trees (Fabaceae. = Leguminosae) from insects in 41 paired gap-understorey locations across 80. ha of primary rain forest (Korup, Cameroon).For all species, growth in height and leaf numbers was negligible in the understorey, where M. bisulcata had the lowest survival after c. 2. years. In gaps, however, all species responded positively with pronounced above-ground growth across seasons. When exposed to herbivores their seedling height growth was similar, but in the absence of herbivores, M. bisulcata significantly outgrew both Tetraberlinia species and matched their leaf numbers. This result suggests that insect herbivores might play an important role in maintaining species coexistence by mitigating sapling abundance of the more palatable M. bisulcata, which in gaps was eaten the most severely. The higher ratio in static leaf damage of control-to-caged M. bisulcata seedlings in gaps than understorey locations was consistent with the Plant Vigour Hypothesis. This result, however, did not apply to either Tetraberlinia species. For M. bisulcata and T. korupensis, but not T. bifoliolata (the most shade-tolerant species), caging improved relative seedling survival in the understory locations compared to gaps, providing restricted support for the Limiting Resource Model. Approximately 2.25. years after treatments were removed, the caged seedlings were taller and had more leaves than controls in all three species, and the effect remained strongest for M. bisulcata.We conclude that in this community the impact of leaf herbivory on seedling growth in gaps is strong for the dominant M. bisulcata, which coupled to a very low shade-tolerance contributes to limiting its regeneration. However, because gaps are common to most forests, insect herbivores may be having impacts upon functionally similar tree species that are also characterized by low sapling recruitment much more widely than currently appreciated. An implication for the restoration and management of M. bisulcata populations in forests outside of Korup is that physical protection from herbivores of new seedlings where the canopy is opened by gaps, or by harvesting, should substantially increase its subcanopy regeneration, and thus, too, its opportunities for adult recruitment. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. Citation statistics:
资源类型: 期刊论文
标识符: http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/66285
Appears in Collections: 影响、适应和脆弱性
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作者单位: Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, 21 Altenbergrain, 3013 Bern, Switzerland
Recommended Citation:
Norghauer J.M.,Newbery D.M.. Herbivores equalize the seedling height growth of three dominant tree species in an African tropical rain forest[J]. Forest Ecology and Management,2013-01-01,310