Article
Engineering, Civil
Jesse R. Francis, Mark N. Wuddivira, Kegan K. Farrick
Summary: In the Caribbean, reforestation using exotic pine trees can alter soil water movement, but its impact on runoff and recharge is only significant under the driest conditions. Monitoring soil water repellency, hydraulic conductivity, and soil moisture response, we found that the exotic pine plantation has similar water characteristics to the native forest during the wet season. However, during the mid dry season, the soil moisture level in exotic pines triggers repellent/hydrophobic conditions that severely reduce soil moisture response to rainfall.
JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Civil
Jesse R. Francis, Mark N. Wuddivira, Kegan K. Farrick
Summary: This study examines the rainfall interception dynamics between exotic pine and native secondary forest, revealing that the exotic pine forest intercepts more precipitation and reduces the rainfall reaching the forest floor compared to the native forest. Understory vegetation plays a critical role in the interception process. These findings highlight the need to re-examine the use of pine trees as a reforestation tool.
JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Jack H. Hatfield, Cristina Banks-Leite, Jos Barlow, Alexander C. Lees, Joseph A. Tobias
Summary: Seed dispersal is crucial for tropical forest resilience, but the extent of defaunation and its impact on restoring degraded areas remain poorly understood. Using field survey data from Brazil, we found that current bird assemblages have lower functional diversity compared to predictions, indicating the potential loss of seed-dispersing birds in tropical forest landscapes.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Tiedong Liu, Kai Jiang, Zhaoyuan Tan, Qifang He, Hui Zhang, Chen Wang
Summary: Deforestation in the tropics leads to reduced soil water content. Reforestation with fast-growing species does not effectively recover soil water content, as evidenced by a study conducted in a degraded tropical forest area.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Chaoqing Song, Wenfang Xu, Shihua Li, Hui Liu, Chengjin Chu, Bin He, Xiuzhi Chen, Shilong Piao, Haibo Lu, Minna Ma, Wenping Yuan
Summary: This study investigates the tree demography in Barro Colorado Island forest in Panama, focusing on the impact of water conditions and plant functional traits. It reveals that water stress is the main driver of tree dynamics, with negative population changes during high water stress and positive changes during low water stress. Wood density and P50 are found to be significantly correlated with tree mortality, recruitment, and growth rates, indicating the importance of resource allocation and hydraulic safety traits. Timely recovery of recruitment under favorable water conditions is crucial for forest dynamics.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Forestry
R. K. Chaturvedi, Anshuman Tripathi, A. S. Raghubanshi, J. S. Singh
Summary: This study evaluated drought survival mechanisms of tropical dry forest trees based on their functional traits, identifying three functional guilds and exploring their impacts under different soil water availability conditions.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yanting Hu, Wenhua Xiang, Karina V. R. Schafer, Pifeng Lei, Xiangwen Deng, David Forrester, Xi Fang, Yelin Zeng, Shuai Ouyang, Liang Chen, Changhui Peng
Summary: This study investigates the effects of photosynthetic and hydraulic traits on the responses of forest ecosystem's gross primary productivity (GPP) to drought events. The results show that species with higher photosynthetic rates have better GPP resilience, while species with higher hydraulic safety margins have higher GPP resistance. Additionally, forests in humid regions have higher GPP resilience, while forests in arid regions have higher GPP resistance.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Felicien Meunier, Marco D. Visser, Alexey Shiklomanov, Michael C. Dietze, J. Antonio Q. Guzman, G. Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa, Hannes P. T. De Deurwaerder, Sruthi M. Krishna Moorthy, Stefan A. Schnitzer, David C. Marvin, Marcos Longo, Chang Liu, Eben N. Broadbent, Angelica M. Almeyda Zambrano, Helene C. Muller-Landau, Matteo Detto, Hans Verbeeck
Summary: This study used a meta-analysis approach to gather liana leaf optical spectra and canopy spectra data to investigate the impact of liana traits on the energy balance, light competition, and carbon cycle of tropical forests. The results showed that lianas have specific traits that make them more efficient at light interception, leading to modifications in forest energy balance and reductions in tree and ecosystem productivity while increasing liana productivity. This study provides new evidence on the impact of lianas on forest functioning and suggests implications for large-scale forest biogeochemical cycles.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Paulo Roberto de Lima Bittencourt, David C. Bartholomew, Lindsay F. Banin, Mohamed Aminur Faiz Bin Suis, Reuben Nilus, David F. R. P. Burslem, Lucy Rowland
Summary: Fine-scale topographic-edaphic gradients in tropical forests have a significant impact on spatial variation and forest structure. This study examines the relationship between hydraulic traits of tropical tree species and vertical and horizontal spatial niche specialization along such gradients. The research finds that dipterocarp species exhibit variation in hydraulic traits driven by topographic-edaphic conditions, tree height, and taxonomic identity. The findings also suggest that hydraulic traits play a crucial role in shaping forest structure across topographic-edaphic and vertical gradients, contributing to niche specialization among dipterocarp species.
Article
Plant Sciences
Rodrigo Munoz, Frans Bongers, Danae M. A. Rozendaal, Edgar J. Gonzalez, Juan M. Dupuy, Jorge A. Meave
Summary: The study aimed to test the presence of autogenic regulation in dynamics of old-growth forest and secondary forest, indicating forest resilience. Analysis showed negative relationships between key state variables, their rates of change, and underlying demographic processes, supporting the hypothesis of autogenic regulation in integrated forest dynamics.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Natalia Mesa-Sierra, Marines de la Pena-Domene, Julio Campo, Christian P. Giardina
Summary: Deforestation poses a significant threat to tropical dry forests in Mexico, and active restoration measures are required to reintroduce tree cover. Through synthesizing restoration literature, we found that the Yucatan Peninsula had the highest number of restoration sites, and planting seedlings was the most commonly used strategy. Plant survival was influenced by factors such as maximum annual temperature and aridity index.
Article
Forestry
Carlos A. Rivas, Jose Guerrero-Casado, Rafael M. Navarro-Cerillo
Summary: The study reveals that Ecuador's seasonal dry forests faced deforestation and fragmentation between 1990 and 2018, with semi-deciduous forests experiencing the highest levels of fragmentation. National protected areas had lower levels of fragmentation, while protected forests had higher levels of fragmentation.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Pieter A. Zuidema, Flurin Babst, Peter Groenendijk, Valerie Trouet, Abrham Abiyu, Rodolfo Acuna-Soto, Eduardo Adenesky-Filho, Raquel Alfaro-Sanchez, Jose Roberto Vieira Aragao, Gabriel Assis-Pereira, Xue Bai, Ana Carolina Barbosa, Giovanna Battipaglia, Hans Beeckman, Paulo Cesar Botosso, Tim Bradley, Achim Braeuning, Roel Brienen, Brendan M. Buckley, J. Julio Camarero, Ana Carvalho, Gregorio Ceccantini, Librado R. Centeno-Erguera, Julian Cerano-Paredes, Alvaro Agustin Chavez-Duran, Bruno Barcante Ladvocat Cintra, Malcolm K. Cleaveland, Camille Couralet, Rosanne D'Arrigo, Jorge Ignacio del Valle, Oliver Duenisch, Brian J. Enquist, Karin Esemann-Quadros, Zewdu Eshetu, Ze-Xin Fan, M. Eugenia Ferrero, Esther Fichtler, Claudia Fontana, Kainana S. Francisco, Aster Gebrekirstos, Emanuel Gloor, Daniela Granato-Souza, Kristof Haneca, Grant Logan Harley, Ingo Heinrich, Gerd Helle, Janet G. Inga, Mahmuda Islam, Yu-mei Jiang, Mark Kaib, Zakia Hassan Khamisi, Marcin Koprowski, Bart Kruijt, Eva Layme, Rik Leemans, A. Joshua Leffler, Claudio Sergio Lisi, Neil J. Loader, Giuliano Maselli Locosselli, Lidio Lopez, Maria Lopez-Hernandez, Jose Luis Penetra Cerveira Lousada, Hooz A. Mendivelso, Mulugeta Mokria, Valdinez Ribeiro Montoia, Eddy Moors, Cristina Nabais, Justine Ngoma, Francisco de Carvalho Nogueira Junior, Juliano Morales Oliveira, Gabriela Morais Olmedo, Mariana Alves Pagotto, Shankar Panthi, Gonzalo Perez-De-Lis, Darwin Pucha-Cofrep, Nathsuda Pumijumnong, Mizanur Rahman, Jorge Andres Ramirez, Edilson Jimmy Requena-Rojas, Adauto de Souza Ribeiro, Iain Robertson, Fidel Alejandro Roig, Ernesto Alonso Rubio-Camacho, Ute Sass-Klaassen, Jochen Schongart, Paul R. Sheppard, Franziska Slotta, James H. Speer, Matthew D. Therrell, Benjamin Toirambe, Mario Tomazello-Filho, Max C. A. Torbenson, Ramzi Touchan, Alejandro Venegas-Gonzalez, Ricardo Villalba, Jose Villanueva-Diaz, Royd Vinya, Mart Vlam, Tommy Wils, Zhe-Kun Zhou
Summary: According to a pantropical tree-ring network, dry-season climate variability is a primary driver of tropical tree growth. The study found that woody biomass growth increases with dry-season precipitation and decreases with dry-season maximum temperature. The strength of these dry-season climate responses varies among sites and is influenced by drier, hotter, and more climatically variable regions.
Article
Forestry
A. L. Giles, L. Rowland, P. R. L. Bittencourt, D. C. Bartholomew, I Coughlin, P. B. Costa, T. Domingues, R. C. Miatto, F. Barros, L. Ferreira, P. Groenendijk, A. A. R. Oliveira, A. C. L. da Costa, P. Meir, M. Mencuccini, R. S. Oliveira
Summary: This study shows that small and large trees have different strategies to tolerate drought, with small trees able to adjust their hydraulic systems and take advantage of increased light availability in response to drought.
Article
Forestry
Jakelyne S. Bezerra, Victor Arroyo-Rodriguez, Juan Manuel Dupuy-Rada, Inara R. Leal, Marcelo Tabarelli
Summary: Agricultural activities, such as slash-and-burn farming, pose a threat to the recovery potential of forests in human-modified landscapes. This is due to the disruption of critical sources of forest regeneration, including seed rain. The hypothesis that slash-and-burn agriculture promotes seed source and seed dispersal limitation remains poorly tested.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Esperanza Pulido-Rodriguez, Rene Lopez-Camacho, Juliana Torres, Eduard Velasco, Beatriz Salgado-Negret
TREES-STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
(2020)
Article
Plant Sciences
Rene Lopez Camacho, Alexandra Quintero-Gomez, Sara Mayerly Amado-Ariza
Article
Ecology
Roy Gonzalez-M., Juan M. Posada, Carlos P. Carmona, Fabian Garzon, Viviana Salinas, Alvaro Idarraga-Piedrahita, Camila Pizano, Andres Avella, Rene Lopez-Camacho, Natalia Norden, Jhon Nieto, Sandra P. Medina, Gina M. Rodriguez-M., Rebeca Franke-Ante, Alba M. Torres, Ruben Jurado, Hermes Cuadros, Alejandro Castano-Naranjo, Hernando Garcia, Beatriz Salgado-Negret
Summary: A study found that tree species have different responses to drought based on their functional trait combinations, with tree mortality being more widespread than tree growth in the functional space, where less adapted species showed more negative net biomass balances.
Article
Plant Sciences
Ana Belen Hurtado-M, Maria Angela Echeverry-Galvis, Beatriz Salgado-Negret, Juan Camilo Munoz, Juan Manuel Posada, Natalia Norden
Summary: Despite significant human impact and habitat transformation, little evidence of floristic homogenization was found in peri-urban Andean forests. Both dispersal limitation and environmental heterogeneity promote inherent floristic differentiation, suggesting the importance of all patches for conservation in these critical endemic centers of the Andean forests.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
German G. Vargas, Tim J. Brodribb, Juan M. Dupuy, Roy Gonzalez-M, Catherine M. Hulshof, David Medvigy, Tristan A. P. Allerton, Camila Pizano, Beatriz Salgado-Negret, Naomi B. Schwartz, Skip J. Van Bloem, Bonnie G. Waring, Jennifer S. Powers
Summary: Leaf habit has been proposed to define the drought avoidance and plant economics in tropical trees, but it alone cannot explain the patterns of trait variation. Different strategies for adaptation exist within leaf habits.
Editorial Material
Plant Sciences
Jennifer S. Powers, Ariadna Mondragon-Botero, Natalia Norden, Beatriz Salgado-Negret, Camila Pizano, Roy Gonzalez-M., German Vargas G.
Article
Ecology
Elkin A. Tenorio, Paola Montoya, Natalia Norden, Susana Rodriguez-Buritica, Beatriz Salgado-Negret, Mailyn A. Gonzalez
Summary: This study compared the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) between mountain and lowland regions and found that the LDG is stronger in mountains due to higher species packing and turnover. The results have significant implications for re-evaluating the role of regional differences in macroecological and evolutionary processes in driving species diversity gradients.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Maria Natalia Umana, Beatriz Salgado-Negret, Natalia Norden, Viviana Salinas, Fabian Garzon, Sandra P. Medina, M. Gina M. Rodriguez, Rene Lopez-Camacho, Alejandro Castano-Naranjo, Hermes Cuadros, Rebeca Franke-Ante, Andres Avella, Alvaro Idarraga-Piedrahita, Ruben Jurado, Jhon Nieto, Camila Pizano, Alba M. Torres, Hernando Garcia, M. Roy Gonzalez
Summary: We investigated the effects of trait trade-offs on tree communities in tropical dry forests and found that conservative wood and leaf traits were associated with slower tree growth, increased tree survival, and higher species abundance and dominance at the community level. Safe hydraulic traits, on the other hand, were related to demographic processes but did not affect species abundance and communities. The persistent effects of the conservative-acquisitive trade-off suggest potential generalizability and predictability of tree communities, while the safety-efficient trade-off showed more intricate effects on performance.
Article
Biology
S. Angie Montanez, M. Andres Avella, Rene Lopez Camacho
Summary: This study evaluated litterfall, nutrient potential return, and decomposition variation in a tropical dry forest successional gradient in Tolima, Colombia. The results showed that total litterfall was higher in late forests compared to initial forests, while decomposition rates were higher in initial forests. Nutrient potential return remained consistent throughout succession but varied between study sites. Structural development and species richness influenced litterfall, while soil chemical conditions affected nutrient returns and decomposition.
REVISTA DE BIOLOGIA TROPICAL
(2023)
Article
Environmental Studies
Angelica Ochoa-Beltran, Johanna Andrea Martinez-Villa, Peter G. Kennedy, Beatriz Salgado-Negret, Alvaro Duque
Summary: The study in the Andean forests of Colombia investigated the variation of six plant functional traits along an elevational gradient, finding that factors such as climate, soil fertility, and symbiotic root associations play key roles in species assembly. It emphasizes the importance of regional and local factors in determining plant trait assembly.
Review
Biodiversity Conservation
Natalia Norden, Roy Gonzalez-M., Andres Avella-M., Beatriz Salgado-Negret, Carolina Alcazar, Susana Rodriguez-Buritica, Jose Aguilar-Cano, Carolina Castellanos-Castro, Jhon J. Calderon, Paula Caycedo-Rosales, Hermes Cuadros, Angelica Diaz-Pulido, Zoraida Fajardo, Rebeca Franke-Ante, Daniel H. Garcia, Mailyn A. Gonzalez, Alma Hernandez-Jaramillo, Alvaro Idarraga-Piedrahita, Rene Lopez-Camacho, Sindy J. Martinez-Callejas, Jhon Nieto, Camila Pizano, Gina Rodriguez, Alba M. Torres, Hernando Vergara, Hernando Garcia
Summary: By establishing biodiversity monitoring platforms and promoting societal engagement, crucial knowledge gaps are being filled to facilitate the sustainable development of tropical dry forests; scientific data support decision-making in Colombian TDF, leading to the formation of a national research collaboration network for comprehensive management.
PLANTS PEOPLE PLANET
(2021)
Article
Biology
Rosa Arrieta-Gonzalez, Juan Paez, Yamileth Dominguez-Haydar, Beatriz Salgado-Negret
Summary: This study aimed to examine the functional strategies and trait correlations of dry forest seedlings in coping with water deficit. Results showed limited linkage between above- and below-ground traits, but root traits revealed new functional strategies. This contributes to understanding species coexistence mechanisms and is crucial for predicting future forest trajectories.
REVISTA DE BIOLOGIA TROPICAL
(2021)
Article
Biology
Blanca Martinez, Rene Lopez Camacho, Luis Santiago Castillo, Rodrigo Bernal
Summary: The study found that each adult palm produced one leaf every 69 days on average, and most palms flowered synchronously at different elevations during specific periods, leading to a total estimated fruit production of 2.0-7.1 billion fruits during each fruiting period. The phenological patterns observed have a significant impact on the distribution of food resources for fauna associated with the palm.
REVISTA DE BIOLOGIA TROPICAL
(2021)