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- Title
Higher survival drives the success of nitrogen-fixing trees through succession in Costa Rican rainforests.
- Authors
Menge, Duncan N. L.; Chazdon, Robin L.
- Abstract
Trees capable of symbiotic nitrogen (N) fixation ('N fixers') are abundant in many tropical forests. In temperate forests, it is well known that N fixers specialize in early-successional niches, but in tropical forests, successional trends of N-fixing species are poorly understood., We used a long-term census study (1997-2013) of regenerating lowland wet tropical forests in Costa Rica to document successional patterns of N fixers vs non-fixers, and used an individual-based model to determine the demographic drivers of these trends., N fixers increased in relative basal area during succession. In the youngest forests, N fixers grew 2.5 times faster, recruited at a similar rate and were 15 times less likely to die as non-fixers. As succession proceeded, the growth and survival disparities decreased, whereas N fixer recruitment decreased relative to non-fixers. According to our individual-based model, high survival was the dominant driver of the increase in basal area of N fixers., Our data suggest that N fixers are successful throughout secondary succession in tropical rainforests of north-east Costa Rica, and that attempts to understand this success should focus on tree survival.
- Subjects
NITROGEN-fixing trees; RAIN forests; PLANT succession; BASAL area (Forestry); FOREST management
- Publication
New Phytologist, 2016, Vol 209, Issue 3, p965
- ISSN
0028-646X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/nph.13734