Age and light effects on seedling growth in two alternative secondary successions in central Amazonia
Open accessAbstract
Background : In central Amazonia, previous low intensity land use engenders succession dominated by Cecropia spp. which proceeds at high rates; however, at higher intensity of use succession is arrested and dominated by Vismia spp. over the long-term. Factors driving these two successional pathways are unknown. Aims : We aimed to elucidate seedling growth under the two alternative successional pathways. Methods : We experimentally determined the effects of successional age and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) on relative height growth (RHG) of nine species of shade-tolerant tree seedlings in secondary forests dominated by Cecropia and Vismia, varying in age from 1–20 years. Results : In Cecropia-dominated successions, seedling RHG decreased with increasing successional age and with associated decreasing PAR. In Vismia-dominated successions, RHG was independent of successional age and PAR, and PAR did not change with successional age, being always higher than in Cecropia stands. The RHG of seedlings was lower in Vismia- than in Cecropia-dominated stands for similar PAR levels. Conclusions : Successional age and light availability affect seedlings growth differently in the two successional pathways. Unlike in Cecropia-dominated successions, in Vismia-dominated secondary forests seedling growth is limited by factors other than light. In a scenario of increasing land use intensity, constraints to seedling development in secondary forests can reduce species diversity in human-altered landscapes.
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Vismia forests are common in old abandoned pastures managed with fire, and are relatively stable because Vismia trees favour recruitment of Vismia seedlings over other tree species.
“For instance, Vismia forests are common in old abandoned pastures managed with fire85, and are relatively stable, because Vismia trees favour recruitment of Vismia seedlings in detriment of other tree species88,89.”
From Critical transitions in the Amazon forest system (2024) · cites this paper as [88]
The passages labelled Abstract contain bibliographic metadata and keywords, not findings about Vismia. Searches for Vismia recruitment, fire-managed pastures, and forest stability found no passage addressing the claim in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.72)
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Critical transitions in the Amazon forest system
Flores, B. M., Montoya, E., Sakschewski, B., Nascimento, N., Staal, A., Betts, R. A., Levis, C., Lapola, D. M., Esquível-Muelbert, A., Jakovac, C., et al. (2024) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06970-0 · Cited by 607 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Jakovac, A. C. C., Bentos, T. V., Mesquita, R. C. G., & Williamson, G. B.
- Affiliations
- Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (BR)
- Louisiana State University (US)
- Venue
- Plant Ecology & Diversity
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2012-10-10
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 349-358
- ISSN
- 1755-0874 (ISSN-L)
- 1755-1668
- OpenAlex
- W2036343430
- Cited by
- 38
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 3 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 2.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- research.wur.nl
- Locations
- Plant Ecology & Diversity (publishedVersion)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (acceptedVersion)
- Smithsonian Digital Repository (Smithsonian Institution) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Seedling growth and survival studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Forest ecology and management
- Keywords
- secondary succession, seedling growth, Cecropia, Vismia, photosynthetically active radiation, light availability, land use intensity, species diversity, human-altered landscapes
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