Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T14:54:30.142Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Covariation between understorey light environments and soil resources in Bornean mixed dipterocarp rain forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2011

Sabrina E. Russo ,
Lin Zhang  and
Sylvester Tan
Sabrina E. Russo*
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68588USA
Lin Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Statistics, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68588USA
Sylvester Tan
Affiliation:
Center for Tropical Forest Science – Arnold Arboretum Asia Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, MAUSA02138
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Variation in understorey irradiance is both a cause and consequence of the structure and dynamics of closed-canopy forests, which are also influenced by soil nutrients and water availability. We tested the hypothesis that understorey light regimes differ among four mixed dipterocarp forest types that share the same rainfall, but grow on different soils along an edaphic gradient at one site in Borneo. Based on data from photosynthetically active radiation sensors deployed at 1-m height at 36 locations for 351 sensor-days, we found significant soil-related variation in irradiance. The more productive forest types on clay and fine loam had lower daily photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) than those on the more nutrient-depleted and better-drained sandy loam and loam. They also had fewer moderate to high-intensity sunflecks, and a greater proportion of their daily PPFD came from low-intensity light. Understorey irradiance did not, however, monotonically decline with increasing soil resources. Forests on intermediate soils had greater irradiance than those with more and less soil resources, due to steeper slopes. Plant communities arrayed on resource gradients are commonly used to test hypotheses of environmental factors driving their assembly. Our results indicate that consideration of multiple resource dimensions in such tests is critical.

Keywords

environmental gradientsforest understoreyMalaysiasoil texturesunfleckstree regenerationtropical forest
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 33 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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

AGRESTI, A. 1990. Categorical data analysis. John Wiley and Sons, New York. 558 pp.Google Scholar
ASHTON, P. S. 1964. Ecological studies in the mixed dipterocarp forests of Brunei state. Oxford Forestry Memoir 25:1–75.Google Scholar
ASHTON, P. S. & HALL, P. 1992. Comparisons of structure among mixed dipterocarp forests of north-western Borneo. Journal of Ecology 80:459–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BAILLIE, I. C., ASHTON, P. S., COURT, M. N., ANDERSON, J. A. R., FITZPATRICK, E. A. & TINSLEY, J. 1987. Site characteristics and the distribution of tree species in mixed dipterocarp forest on Tertiary sediments in Central Sarawak, Malaysia. Journal of Tropical Ecology 3:201–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BAILLIE, I. C., ASHTON, P. S., CHIN, S. P., DAVIES, S. J., PALMIOTTO, P. A., RUSSO, S. E. & TAN, S. 2006. Spatial associations of humus, nutrients, and soils in mixed dipterocarp forest at Lambir, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. Journal of Tropical Ecology 22:543–553.Google Scholar
BARKER, M. G., PRESS, M. C. & BROWN, N. D. 1997. Photosynthetic characteristics of dipterocarp seedlings in three tropical rain forest light environments: a basis for niche partitioning? Oecologia 112:453–463.Google ScholarPubMed
BRUNIG, E. F. 1974. Ecological Studies in the Kerangas Forests of Sarawak and Brunei. Borneo Literature Bureau, Kuching. 237 pp.Google Scholar
BURNHAM, K. P. & ANDERSON, D. R. 2002. Model selection and multi-model inference: a practical information-theoretic approach. Springer, New York. 353 pp.Google Scholar
CANHAM, C. D., FINZI, A. C., PACALA, S. W. & BURBANK, D. H. 1994. Causes and consequences of resource heterogeneity in forests – interspecific variation in light transmission by canopy trees. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 24:337–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CANHAM, C. D., PAPAIK, M. J., URIARTE, M., MCWILLIAMS, W. H., JENKINS, J. C. & TWERY, M. J. 2006. Neighborhood analyses of canopy tree competition along environmental gradients in New England forests. Ecological Applications 16:540–554.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
CHAPIN, F. S., BLOOM, A. J., FIELD, C. B. & WARING, R. H. 1987. Plant responses to multiple environmental factors. Bioscience 37:49–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CHAZDON, R. L. 1986. Light variation and carbon gain in rain forest understorey palms. Journal of Ecology 74:995–1012.Google Scholar
CHAZDON, R. L. & FETCHER, N. 1984. Photosynthetic light environments in a lowland tropical rain forest in Costa Rica. Journal of Ecology 72:553–564.Google Scholar
CHAZDON, R. L. & PEARCY, R. W. 1991. The importance of sunflecks for forest understory plants – photosynthetic machinery appears adapted to brief, unpredictable periods of radiation. Bioscience 41:760–766.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CONDIT, R. 1998. Tropical forest census plots: methods and results from Barro Colorado Island, Panama and a comparison with other plots. Springer, Berlin. 207 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COOMES, D. A. & GRUBB, P. J. 1996. Amazonian caatinga and related communities at La Esmeralda, Venezuela: forest structure, physiognomy and floristics, and control by soil factors. Vegetatio 122:167–191.Google Scholar
COOMES, D. A. & GRUBB, P. J. 2000. Impacts of root competition in forests and woodlands: a theoretical framework and review of experiments. Ecological Monographs 70:171–207.Google Scholar
COOMES, D. A., ALLEN, R. B., BENTLEY, W. A., BURROWS, L. E., CANHAM, C. D., FAGAN, L., FORSYTH, D. M., GAXIOLA-ALCANTAR, A., PARFITT, R. L., RUSCOE, W. A., WARDLE, D. A., WILSON, D. J. & WRIGHT, E. F. 2005. The hare, the tortoise and the crocodile: the ecology of angiosperm dominance, conifer persistence and fern filtering. Journal of Ecology 93:918–935.Google Scholar
COOMES, D. A., KUNSTLER, G., CANHAM, C. D. & WRIGHT, E. 2009. A greater range of shade-tolerance niches in nutrient-rich forests: an explanation for positive richness-productivity relationships? Journal of Ecology 97:705–717.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DALLING, J. W., HUBBELL, S. P. & SILVERA, K. 1998. Seed dispersal, seedling establishment and gap partitioning among tropical pioneer trees. Journal of Ecology 86:674–689.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DAVIES, S. J., TAN, S., LAFRANKIE, J. V. & POTTS, M. D. 2005. Soil-related floristic variation in the hyperdiverse dipterocarp forest in Lambir Hills, Sarawak. Pp. 22–34 in Roubik, D. W., Sakai, S. & Hamid, A. (eds.). Pollination ecology and rain forest diversity, Sarawak studies. Springer-Verlag, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DENSLOW, J. S., ELLISON, A. M. & SANFORD, R. E. 1998. Treefall gap size effects on above- and below-ground processes in a tropical wet forest. Journal of Ecology 86:597–609.Google Scholar
HARTSHORN, G. S. 1980. Neotropical forest dynamics. Biotropica 12:23–30.Google Scholar
HEINEMAN, K. D., JENSEN, E., SHAPLAND, A., BOGENRIEF, B., TAN, S., REBARBER, R. & RUSSO, S. E. 2011. The effects of belowground resources on aboveground allometric growth in Bornean tree species. Forest Ecology and Management 261:1820–1832.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KOBE, R. K. 1999. Light gradient partitioning among tropical tree species through differential seedling mortality and growth. Ecology 80:187–207.Google Scholar
KOIZUMI, H. & OSHIMA, Y. 1993. Light environment and carbon gain of understorey herbs associated with sunflecks in a warm temperate deciduous forest in Japan. Ecological Research 8:135–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LEAKEY, A. D. B., PRESS, M. C. & SCHOLES, J. D. 2003. Patterns of dynamic irradiance affect the photosynthetic capacity and growth of dipterocarp tree seedlings. Oecologia 135:184–193.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
LEAKEY, A. D. B., SCHOLES, J. D. & PRESS, M. C. 2005. Physiological and ecological significance of sunflecks for dipterocarp seedlings. Journal of Experimental Botany 56:469–482.Google Scholar
LEE, H. S., DAVIES, S. J., LAFRANKIE, J. V., TAN, S., YAMAKURA, T., ITOH, A., OHKUBO, T. & ASHTON, P. S. 2002. Floristic and structural diversity of mixed dipterocarp forests in Lambir Hills National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia. Journal of Tropical Forest Science 14: 379–400.Google Scholar
MATSON, P. A. & BOONE, R. D. 1984. Natural disturbance and nitrogen mineralization: wave-form dieback of mountain hemlock in the Oregon Cascades. Ecology 65:1511–1516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MCCULLACH, P. & NELDER, J. A. 1989. Generalized linear models. Chapman and Hall, London. 511 pp.Google Scholar
MCGILL, B. J., ENQUIST, B. J., WEIHER, E. & WESTOBY, M. 2006. Rebuilding community ecology from functional traits. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 21:178–185.Google Scholar
MONTGOMERY, R. A. & CHAZDON, R. L. 2001. Forest structure, canopy architecture, and light transmittance in tropical wet forests. Ecology 82:2707–2718.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MONTGOMERY, R. A. & CHAZDON, R. L. 2002. Light gradient partitioning by tropical tree seedlings in the absence of canopy gaps. Oecologia 131:165–174.Google Scholar
MYSTER, R. W. & FERNANDEZ, D. S. 1995. Spatial gradients and patch structure on two Puerto Rican landslides. Biotropica 27:149–159.Google Scholar
OHKUBO, T. 2007a. Spatial and topographic patterns of canopy gap formation in a mixed dipterocarp forest in Sarawak, Malaysia. Tropics 16:152–153.Google Scholar
OHKUBO, T. 2007b. Spatial pattern of landslides due to heavy rains in a mixed dipterocarp forest, North-Western Borneo. Tropics 16:59–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PALMIOTTO, P. A. 1998. The role of specialization in nutrient-use efficiency as a mechanism driving species diversity in a tropical rain forest. Ph.D. thesis, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Yale University, New Haven. 282 pp.Google Scholar
PAOLI, G. D., CURRAN, L. M. & ZAK, D. R. 2006. Soil nutrients and beta diversity in the Bornean Dipterocarpaceae: evidence for niche partitioning by tropical rain forest trees. Journal of Ecology 94:157–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PEARSON, T. R. H., BURSLEM, D. F. R. P., GOERIZ, R. E. & DALLING, J. W. 2003. Regeneration niche partitioning in neotropical pioneers: effects of gap size, seasonal drought and herbivory on growth and survival. Oecologia 137:456–465.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
PICKETT, S. T. A. & WHITE, P. S. (eds). 1987. The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Academic Press, London. 472 pp.Google Scholar
POORTER, L. & ARETS, E. 2003. Light environment and tree strategies in a Bolivian tropical moist forest: an evaluation of the light partitioning hypothesis. Plant Ecology 166:295–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
POTTS, M. D., ASHTON, P. S., KAUFMAN, L. S. & PLOTKIN, J. B. 2002. Habitat patterns in tropical rain forests: a comparison of 105 plots in northwest Borneo. Ecology 83:2782–2797.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RICHARDS, P. W. 1996. The tropical rain forest: an ecological study. (Second edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 600 pp.Google Scholar
RICKLEFS, R. E. 1977. Environmental heterogeneity and plant species diversity: a hypothesis. American Naturalist 111:376–381.Google Scholar
RUSSO, S. E., DAVIES, S. J., KING, D. A. & TAN, S. 2005. Soil-related performance variation and distributions of tree species in a Bornean rain forest. Journal of Ecology 93:879–889.Google Scholar
RUSSO, S. E., CANNON, W. L., ELOWSKY, C., TAN, S. & DAVIES, S. J. 2010. Variation in leaf stomatal traits of 28 tree species in relation to gas exchange along an edaphic gradient in a Bornean rain forest. American Journal of Botany 97:1109–1120.Google Scholar
TAN, S., YAMAKURA, T., TANI, M., PALMIOTTO, P., MAMIT, J. D., PIN, C. S., DAVIES, S. J., ASHTON, P. S. & BAILLIE, I. C. 2009. Review of soils on the 52-ha long term ecological research plot in mixed dipterocarp forest at Lambir, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. Tropics 18:61–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TILMAN, D. 1988. Plant strategies and the dynamics and structure of plant communities. Princeton University Press, Princeton. 360 pp.Google Scholar
TURNER, I. M., LUCAS, P. W., BECKER, P., WONG, S. C., YONG, J. W. H., CHOONG, M. F. & TYREE, M. T. 2000. Tree leaf form in Brunei: a heath forest and a mixed dipterocarp forest compared. Biotropica 32:53–61.Google Scholar
WATSON, H. 1985. Lambir Hills National Park: resource inventory with management recommendations. National Parks and Wildlife Office, Forest Department, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.Google Scholar
WELLS, A., STEWART, G. H. & DUNCAN, R. P. 1998. Evidence of widespread, synchronous, disturbance-initiated forest establishment in Westland, New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 28:333–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WHITMORE, T. C. 1978. Gaps in the forest canopy. Pp. 639–655 in Tomlinson, P. B. & Zimmerman, M. M. (eds.). Tropical trees as living systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
WHITMORE, T. C. & WONG, Y. K. 1959. Patterns of sunfleck and shade in tropical rain forest. Malayan Forester 22:50–62.Google Scholar
WRIGHT, I. J., WESTOBY, M. & REICH, P. B. 2002. Convergence towards higher leaf mass per area in dry and nutrient-poor habitats has different consequences for leaf life span. Journal of Ecology 90:534–543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
YAMAKURA, T., KANZAKI, M., ITOH, A., OHKUBO, T., OGINO, K., CHAI, O. K. E., LEE, H. S. & ASHTON, P. S. 1996. Forest structure of a tropical rain forest at Lambir, Sarawak, with special reference to the dependency of its physiognomic dimensions of topography. Tropics 6:1–18.Google Scholar
YODA, K. 1974. Three-dimensional distribution of light intensity in a tropical rain forest of West Malaysia. Japanese Journal of Ecology 24:247–254.Google Scholar
ZIPPERLEN, S. W. & PRESS, M. C. 1997. Photosynthetic induction and stomatal oscillations in relation to the light environment of two dipterocarp rain forest tree species. Journal of Ecology 85:491–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar