Drought sensitivity shapes species distribution patterns in tropical forests

Nature

Volumn 447, Issue 7140, 2007, Pages 80-82

  Engelbrecht, Bettina M J ^a,b   Comita, Liza S ^c   Condit, Richard ^a   Kursar, Thomas A ^a,d   Tyree, Melvin T ^a,e,f   Turner, Benjamin L ^a   Hubbell, Stephen P ^a,c  

^a SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE   (Panama)

^b Rheinland Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern Landau   (Germany)

^c UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA   (United States)

^d UNIVERSITY OF UTAH   (United States)

^e USDA FOREST SERVICE   (United States)

^f UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

RAIN; SOIL WATER;

CLIMATE CHANGE; DROUGHT STRESS; ENVIRONMENTAL GRADIENT; GLOBAL CLIMATE; HABITAT FRAGMENTATION; NICHE PARTITIONING; PRECIPITATION INTENSITY; SOIL WATER POTENTIAL; SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION; SPECIES DIVERSITY; TROPICAL FOREST;

ARTICLE; CLIMATE CHANGE; DROUGHT; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SHRUB; SOIL MOISTURE; SPECIES DISTRIBUTION; TREE; TROPICAL RAIN FOREST; WATER AVAILABILITY;

CENTRAL AMERICA; PANAMA [CENTRAL AMERICA];

EID: 34247269444     PISSN: 00280836     EISSN: 14764687     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1038/nature05747     Document Type: Article

References (32)

1. Veenendaal, E. M. & Swaine, M. D. Limits to tree species distribution in lowland tropical rainforests. In Dynamics of Tropical Communities (eds Newbery, D. M., Prins, H. H. T. & Brown, N.) 163-191, 37th Symp. Brit. Ecol. Soc. (Blackwell, Oxford, 1998).
2. Webb, C. O. & Peart, D. R. Habitat associations of trees and seedlings in a Bornean rain forest. J. Ecol. 88, 464-478 (2000).
3. Harms, K. E., Condit, R., Hubbell, S. P. & Foster, R. B. Habitat associations of trees and shrubs in a 50-ha neotropical forest plot. J. Ecol. 89, 947-959 (2001).
4. Pyke, C. R., Condit, R., Aguilar, S. & Lao, S. Floristic composition across a climatic gradient in a neotropical lowland forest. J. Veg. Sci. 12, 553-566 (2001).
5. Condit, R. et al. Beta-diversity in tropical forest trees. Science 295, 666-669 (2002).
6. Bongers, F., Poorter, L., Van Rompaey, R. S. A. R. & Parren, M. P. E. Distribution of twelve moist forest canopy tree species in Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire: response curves to a climatic gradient. J. Veg. Sci. 10, 371-382 (1999).
7. ter Steege, H. et al. A spatial model of tree α-diversity and tree density for the Amazon. Biodiv. Conserv. 12, 2255-2277 (2003).
8. Schimper, A. F. W. Plant Geography upon a Physiological Basis (Clarendon, Oxford, 1903).
9. Gentry, A. H. Changes in plant community diversity and floristic composition on environmental and geographical gradients. Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 75, 1-34 (1988).
10. Daws, M. I., Mullins, C. E., Burslem, D. F. R. P., Paton, S. R. & Dalling, J. W. Topographic position affects the water regime in a semideciduous tropical forest in Panama. Plant Soil 238, 79-90 (2002).
11. Walsh, R. P. D. Climate. In The Tropical Rain Forest an Ecological Study 2nd edn (ed. Richards, P. W.) 159-202 (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, USA, 1996).
12. Givnish, T. J. On the causes of gradients in tropical tree diversity. J. Ecol. 87, 193-210 (1999).
13. Hubbell, S. P. The Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography (Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 2001).
14. Engelbrecht, B. M. J. & Kursar, T. A. Comparative drought-resistance of seedlings of 28 species of co-occurring tropical woody plants. Oecologia 136, 383-393 (2003).
15. Huston, M. A. Biological Diversity. The Coexistence of Species on Changing Landscapes (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 1994).
16. Tyree, M. T., Engelbrecht, B. M. J., Vargas, G. & Kursar, T. A. Desiccation tolerance of five tropical seedlings in Panama: Relationship to a field assessment of drought-performance. Plant Physiol. 132, 1439-1447 (2003).
17. Comita, L. S., Condit, R. & Hubbell, S. P. Developmental changes in habitat associations of tropical trees. J. Ecol. 95, 482-492 (2007).
18. Veenendaal, E. M. et al. Responses of West African forest tree seedlings to irradiance and soil fertility. Funct. Ecol. 10, 501-511 (1996).
19. Palmiotto, P. A. et al. Soil-related habitat specialization in Dipterocarp rain forest tree species in Borneo. J. Ecol. 92, 609-623 (2004).
20. Niinemets, Ü. & Valladares, F. Tolerance to shade, drought, and waterlogging of temperate northern hemisphere trees and shrubs. Ecol. Monogr. 76, 521-547 (2006).
21. John, R. et al. Soil nutrients influence spatial distributions of tropical tree species. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 104, 864-869 (2007).
22. Potts, M. D. Drought in a Bornean everwet rain forest. J. Ecol. 91, 467-474 (2003).
23. Malhi, Y. & Phillips, O. L. Tropical forests and global atmospheric change: a synthesis. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 359, 549-555 (2004).
24. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. ACP physical monitoring downloads. 〈http://striweb.si.edu/esp/physical_monitoring/download_acp. htm〉 (2006).
25. Condit, R. et al. Tropical forest dynamics across a rainfall gradient and the impact of an El Niño dry season. J. Trop. Ecol. 20, 51-72 (2004).
26. Pérez, R. et al. Tree species composition and diversity in the Upper Chagres River Basin, Panama. In The Rio Chagres, Panama: A Multidisciplinary Profile of a Tropical Watershed (ed. Harmon, R. S.) (Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2005).
27. Condit, R., Hubbell, S. P. & Foster, R. B. Barro Colorado Forest census plot data. 〈http://ctfs.si.edu/datasets/bci〉 (2005).
28. Comita, L. S., Aguilar, S., Pérez, R., Lao, S. & Hubbell, S. P. Patterns of woody plant species abundance and diversity in the seedling layer of a tropical forest. J. Veg. Sci. 18, 163-174 (2007).
29. Engelbrecht, B. M. J., Kursar, T. A. & Tyree, M. T. Drought effects on seedling survival in a tropical moist forest. Trees (Berl.) 19, 312-321 (2005).
30. Welden, C. W., Hewett, S. W., Hubbell, S. P. & Foster, R. B. Sapling survival, growth, and recruitment: Relationship to canopy height in a neotropical forest. Ecology 72, 35-50 (1991).
31. McCune, B. Non-parametric habitat models with automatic interactions. J. Veg. Sci. 17, 819-830 (2006).
32. Becker, P., Rabenold, P. E., Idol, J. R. & Smith, A. P. Water potential gradients for gaps and slopes in a Panamanian tropical moist forest's dry season. J. Trop. Ecol. 4, 173-184 (1988).