Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-25wd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T23:27:47.866Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Major litterfall manipulation affects seedling growth and nutrient status in one of two species in a lowland forest in Panama

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 July 2013

Andrea G. Vincent  and
Edmund V.J. Tanner
Andrea G. Vincent*
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK
Edmund V.J. Tanner
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK
*
1Corresponding author. Email: vincent.andrea@gmail.com.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Leaf litter is an important source of nutrients to tropical forest trees, but its importance for understorey seedling growth is not well understood. Seedlings of Licania platypus (n = 190) and Coussarea curvigemmia (n = 304) were transplanted into deeply shaded forest plots in Panama having received 2 y of litter addition or removal and 7 y of fertilization with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium combined, and their growth and foliar nutrients measured after 13 and 6 mo respectively. Licania platypus growing in litter addition and removal plots had faster height growth and slower leaf growth respectively than in control plots; C. curvigemmia showed no significant effects apart from lower survival in litter addition plots. These effects may be driven by soil nutrients, as suggested by differences in foliar nitrogen and potassium (but not phosphorus) concentrations, and by a pot experiment in a shadehouse using Ochroma pyramidale seedlings, which showed higher leaf area in soils from litter-addition plots, although seedling dry weight was higher only in fertilized soils. Overall, these results show that for one of two species, understorey seedling growth was increased by 2 y of doubled litterfall, and thus that they were probably nutrient limited even in the relatively fertile soils of this semi-deciduous tropical forest.

Keywords

Coussarea curvigemmiafertilizationGigante Peninsulaleaf-litter manipulationLicania platypusOchroma pyramidalenitrogenphosphoruspotassium
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 29 , Issue 5 , September 2013 , pp. 449 - 454
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

BREARLEY, F. Q., PRESS, M. C. & SCHOLES, J. D. 2003. Nutrients obtained from leaf litter can improve the growth of dipterocarp seedlings. New Phytologist 160:101–110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
CAVELIER, J. 1992. Fine-root biomass and soil properties in a semideciduous and a lower montane rain forest in Panama. Plant and Soil 142:187–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CONDIT, R., HUBBELL, S. P. & FOSTER, R. B. 1996. Assessing the response of plant functional types to climatic change in tropical forests. Journal of Vegetation Science 7:405–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COQ, S., WEIGEL, J., BONAL, D. & HATTENSCHWILER, S. 2012. Litter mixture effects on tropical tree seedling growth – a greenhouse experiment. Plant Biology 14:630–640.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
CROAT, T. B. 1978. Flora of Barro Colorado Island. Stanford University Press, Stanford. 943 pp.Google Scholar
DALLING, J. W., LOVELOCK, C. E. & HUBBELL, S. P. 1999. Growth responses of seedlings of two neotropical pioneer species to simulated forest gap environments. Journal of Tropical Ecology 15:827–839.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HOBBIE, S. E. & VITOUSEK, P. M. 2000. Nutrient limitation of decomposition in Hawaiian forests. Ecology 81:1867–1877.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HOLSTE, E. K., KOBE, R. K. & VRIESENDORP, C. F. 2011. Seedling growth responses to soil resources in the understory of a wet tropical forest. Ecology 92:1828–1838.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
SANTIAGO, L. S., WRIGHT, S. J., HARMS, K. E., YAVITT, J. B., KORINE, C., GARCIA, M. N. & TURNER, B. L. 2012. Tropical tree seedling growth responses to nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium addition. Journal of Ecology 100:309–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SAYER, E. J. & TANNER, E. V. J. 2010. Experimental investigation of the importance of litterfall in lowland semi-evergreen tropical forest nutrient cycling. Journal of Ecology 98:1052–1062.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SAYER, E. J., WRIGHT, S. J., TANNER, E. V. J., YAVITT, J. B., HARMS, K. E., POWERS, J. S., KASPARI, M., GARCIA, M. N. & TURNER, B. L. 2012. Variable responses of lowland tropical forest nutrient status to fertilization and litter manipulation. Ecosystems 15:387–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
STEWART, R. H., STEWART, J. L. & WOODRING, W. P. 1980. Geologic map of the Panama Canal and vicinity, Republic of Panama. United States Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1232, scale 1:100,000, 1 sheet.Google Scholar
VINCENT, A. G., TURNER, B. L. & TANNER, E. V. J. 2010. Soil organic phosphorus dynamics following perturbation of litter cycling in a tropical moist forest. European Journal of Soil Science 61:48–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WINDSOR, D. M. 1990. Climate and moisture availability in a tropical forest, long term record for Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Smithsonian Contributions to Earth Science 29:1–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WOOD, T. E., LAWRENCE, D., CLARK, D. A. & CHAZDON, R. L. 2009. Rain forest nutrient cycling and productivity in response to large-scale litter manipulation. Ecology 90:109–121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
WRIGHT, S. J., YAVITT, J. B., WURZBURGER, N., TURNER, B. L., TANNER, E. V. J., SAYER, E. J., SANTIAGO, L. S., KASPARI, M., HEDIN, L. O., HARMS, K. E., GARCIA, M. N. & CORRE, M. D. 2011. Potassium, phosphorus, or nitrogen limit root allocation, tree growth, or litter production in a lowland tropical forest. Ecology 92:1616–1625.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed