Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:50:19.500Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Soil seed banks in four lower montane forests of Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Guadalupe Williams-Linera
Guadalupe Williams-Linera
Affiliation:
Institute de Ecología, Apartado Postal 63, Xalapa, Veracruz 91000, México
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Soil seed banks from four Mexican lower montane forests were studied. These forests are in the transition zone between neartic and Neotropical floristic regions. Soil seed bank characteristics were biased toward the dominant – temperate or tropical – phytogeographical affinity. The northern site (El Cielo Biosphere Reserve, Tamaulipas) had the lowest seed density, 720 seeds m−2. The eastern (Rancho La Mesa, Veracruz), western (Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve, Jalisco) and southern (El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve, Chiapas) sites all had much higher seed densities (2291, 2901, and 2341 seeds m−2, respectively). Germinated tropical species seeds were more abundant than temperate species seeds at all four sites, and were higher for southern and intermediate sites when compared with the northern site. On the basis of family, El Cielo appears to be different. The tropical family Melastomataceae was absent from this northern site, whereas it represented >30% of total germinated seeds at the other three sites. Trees were the most abundant life form at the southern site but were particularly poorly represented in the eastern and northern sites. Herbs were very abundant in the eastern, western and northern sites but were poorly represented in the seed bank of the southern site. The four seed banks differ between themselves and resemble seed banks of neither temperate deciduous nor tropical forests. In some ways they are unique, at least with respect to floristic composition, seed density, and life form representation.

Keywords

El Cielo Biosphere ReserveSierra de Manantlán Biosphere ReserveEl Triunfo Biosphere Reservecloud forestlower montane forestMexicosoil seed bank
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , August 1993 , pp. 321 - 337
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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

Alvarez-Buylla, E. R. & Garcia-Barrios, R. 1991. Seed and forest dynamics: a theoretical framework and an example from the neotropics. The American Naturalist 137:133–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aitkin, M., Anderson, D., Francis, B. & Hinde, J. 1990. Statistical modelling in GLIM. Oxford University Press, New York. 374 pp.Google Scholar
Barbour, M. G., Burk, J. H. & Pitts, W. D. 1980. Terrestrial plant ecology. The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc., Menlo Park, California. 604 pp.Google Scholar
Cheke, A. S., Nanakorn, W. & Yankoses, C. 1979. Dormancy and dispersal of seeds of secondary forest species under the canopy of a primary tropical rain forest in northern Thailand. Biotropica 11:88–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenner, M. 1985. Seed ecology. Chapman & Hall, London. 151 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garwood, N. C. 1989. Tropical soil seed banks: a review. Pp. 149–209 in Leek, M. A., Parker, V. T. & Simpson, R. L. (eds). Ecology of soil seed banks. Academic Press, Inc., San Diego. 462 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, A. 1973. History of the arborescent temperate element in the northern Latin American biota. Pp. 301–314 in Graham, A. (ed.). Vegetation and vegetational history of northern Latin America. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam. 393 pp.Google Scholar
Guevara, S. S. & Gomez-Pompa, A. 1972. Seeds from surface soils in a tropical region of Veracruz, Mexico. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 53:312–335.Google Scholar
Holdridge, L. R., Grenke, W. C., Hatheway, W. H., Liang, T. & Tosi, J. A. 1971. Forest environments in tropical life zones: A pilot study. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 747 pp.Google Scholar
Hopkins, M. S. & Graham, A. W. 1983. The species composition of soil seed banks beneath lowland tropical rainforests in North Queensland, Australia. Biotropica 15:90–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jardel, E. J. (ed.). 1990. Estrategia para la conservación de la Reserva de la Biosfera Sierra de Manantlán. Laboratorio Natural Las Joyas, Universidad de Guadalajara, El Grullo, Jalisco, Mexico. 278 pp.Google Scholar
Lawton, R. O. & Putz, F. E. 1988. Natural disturbance and gap-phase regeneration in a wind-exposed tropical cloud forest. Ecology 69:764–777.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miranda, F. & Sharp, A. J. 1950. Characteristics of the vegetation in certain temperate regions of eastern Mexico. Ecology 31:313–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakagoshi, N. 1985. Buried viable seeds in temperate forests. Pp. 551–570 in White, J. (ed.). The population structure of vegetation. Dr W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olmsted, N. W. & Curtis, J. D. 1947. Seeds of the forest floor. Ecology 28:49–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oosting, H. J. & Humphreys, M. E. 1940. Buried viable seeds in a successional series of old field and forest soils. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 67:253–273.Google Scholar
Parker, V. T., Simpson, R. L. & Leck, M. A. 1989. Pattern and process in the dynamics of seed banks. Pp. 367–384 in Leck, M. A., Parker, V. T. & Simpson, R. L. (eds). Ecology of soil seed banks. Academic Press, Inc., San Diego. 462 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perez, I. G. 1991. Comparación de la composición florística y de la estructura del estrato arbóreo del bosque mesófilo de montaña a diferentes altitudes en el centro del estado de Veracruz. BSc Thesis. Biology School, University of Veracruz, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. 55 pp.Google Scholar
Pickett, S. T. A. & McDonnell, M. J. 1989. Seed bank dynamics in temperate deciduous forest. Pp. 123–147 in Leck, M. A., Parker, V. T. & Simpson, R. L. (eds). Ecology of soil seed banks. Academic Press, Inc., San Diego. 462 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pineda-Lopez, R. 1988. Efecto de la perturbación en la estructuray dinámica del bosque templado de Las Joyas, Sierra de Manantlán. MSc Thesis. INIREB, Xalapa, Veracruz, México.Google Scholar
Puig, H. & Bracho, R. (eds). 1987. El bosque mesófilo de montaña de Tamaulipas. Instituto de Ecologá, México, D. F.186 pp.Google Scholar
Putz, F. E. 1983. Treefall pits and mounds, buried seeds, and the importance of soil disturbance to pioneer trees on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Ecology 64:1069–1074.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rzedowski, J. 1978. Vegetación de México. Editorial Limusa, México, D. F.432 pp.Google Scholar
Williams-Linera, G. 1990. Origin and early development of forest edge vegetation in Panama. Biotropica 22:235–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams-Linera, G. 1991. Nota sobre la estructura del estrato arbóreo del bosque mesófilo de montaña en los alrededores del campamento ‘El Triunfo’, Chiapas. Acta Botánica Mexicana 13:1–7.Google Scholar
Willis, J. C. 1973. A dictionary of the flowering plants and ferns. 8th Edition. University Press, Cambridge. 1245 pp. + lxvi pp. addenda.Google Scholar
Young, K. R. 1985. Deeply buried seeds in a tropical wet forest in Costa Rica. Biotropica 17:336–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, K. R., Ewel, J. J. & Brown, B. J. 1987. Seed dynamics during forest succession in Costa Rica. Vegetatio 71:157–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zar, J. H. 1984. Biostatistical analysis. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 718 pp.Google Scholar