OOS 38 - Contributions of Seasonal and Interannual Variability in Reproduction to the Maintenance of Tropical Forest Diversity

Friday, August 12, 2016: 8:00 AM-11:30 AM
Grand Floridian Blrm E, Ft Lauderdale Convention Center
Organizer:
Margaret Metz
Co-organizers:
Jess K. Zimmerman and Nancy C. Garwood
Moderator:
Nancy C. Garwood
A growing body of evidence supports the important role of biotic and abiotic filters on species composition operating at early life history stages in determining diversity patterns of adult trees. Interspecific differences in natural enemies, life history strategies, habitat specialization, and responses to temporal environmental variation contribute to the maintenance of plant species diversity in large part through effects on seed survival and seedling establishment. Flowering, seed production and seedling recruitment in tropical forests are closely linked to inter-annual variation in climate, indicating the potential sensitivity of these processes to global and regional anthropogenic change. Inter-annual variation in limiting resources should also affect reproductive output with implications for mechanisms of species coexistence mediated by recruitment and life history variation. Changes in climate could also directly affect relative competitive abilities of species specialized to different environmental niches, or indirectly affect recruitment via pathogens and herbivores. In this session, we propose to present results from long-term studies of flower and seed production and seedling dynamics at tropical forest sites that differ significantly in diversity, disturbance regime, seasonality, and biogeographic history. These studies, each with at least a decade’s worth of data collected using standardized methods, focus on elucidating the causes and consequences of inter-annual variation in reproduction. We will focus on three objectives: (1) Quantify and explain temporal variation in reproductive output. (2) Quantify spatiotemporal variation in seed arrival and seedling recruitment. (3) Understand the consequences of variation in reproduction and seedling survival for the maintenance of tropical forest diversity. In particular, we will focus on long-term datasets so that we might distinguish signals of directional anthropogenic changes from natural cyclical changes in seed production and seedling recruitment.
8:00 AM
The environmental regulation of flowering times in moist tropical forests
S. Joseph Wright, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Jess K. Zimmerman, University of Puerto Rico - Rio Piedras; Renato Valencia, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador; Nancy C. Garwood, Southern Ilinois University; Yu-Yun Chen, National DongHwa University; I-Fang Sun, National Dong Hwa University; Christine Fletcher, Forest Research Institute Malaysia; Helene Muller-Landau, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
8:20 AM
8:40 AM
Seasonal and interannual variation in reproduction from a two-decade record in the Luquillo Forest Dynamics Plot, Puerto Rico: Global climate drivers and hurricane effects
Jess K. Zimmerman, University of Puerto Rico - Rio Piedras; J. Aaron Hogan, University of Puerto Rico - Rio Piedras; John Bithorn, University of Puerto Rico - Rio Piedras; Christopher J. Nytch, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
9:00 AM
Inter-annual variability, long-term changes and climatic drivers of cerrado savanna reproductive phenology: Does ENSO matter?
Patricia Morellato, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP); Irene Mendoza, UNESP; Maria Gabriela G. Camargo, UNESP
9:20 AM
The effects of inter-annual climatic variation on fecundity of tropical rainforest trees
Jesse Lasky, Penn State University, Pennsylvania State University; Maria Uriarte, Columbia University; James Clark, Duke University; Patricia Alvarez-Loayza, Duke University; Jimena Forero-Montaña, University of Puerto Rico; Helene Muller-Landau, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Simon A. Queenborough, Yale University; Varun Swamy, Duke University; Nathan Swenson, University of Maryland; John Terborgh, Duke University; Fernando Cornejo Valverde, 10Avenida Razuri 190, Maranga, San Miguel Lima, Peru; S. Joseph Wright, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Jess K. Zimmerman, University of Puerto Rico - Rio Piedras
9:40 AM
10:10 AM
Interacting effects of moisture and biotic interactions on seedling recruitment patterns in tropical forests
Edwin Lebrija-Trejos, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, University of Haifa - Oranim; Joseph S. Wright, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Helene Muller-Landau, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Andres Hernandez, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
10:30 AM
Interannual variation in seedling dynamics in an aseasonal Amazonian forest
Margaret Metz, Lewis & Clark College; Nancy C. Garwood, Southern Ilinois University; S. Joseph Wright, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Renato Valencia, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
10:50 AM
Differential liana and tree recruitment and crowding effects: Consequences for seedling community dynamics
María Natalia Umaña, University of Maryland; Christopher J. Nytch, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras; Jill Thompson, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (Edinburgh); Jess K. Zimmerman, University of Puerto Rico - Rio Piedras; Nathan Swenson, University of Maryland
11:10 AM
Neighborhood interactions mediate seedling demographic responses to recent climate change in a subtropical forest
Lei Chen, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles; Nathan J. B. Kraft, University of California, Los Angeles; Xiangcheng Mi, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xiaojuan Liu, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Haibao Ren, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Yunquan Wang, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Jianhua Chen, Zhejiang Normal University; Keping Ma, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences