The nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) is a widespread species in India that forages in forest as well as on agricultural lands. In Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, India, it typically takes to crop-raiding at night, while it rests and forages in forest during the daytime. We studied changes in herding and vigilance behaviour during foraging in forest versus in agricultural lands and monsoon versus post-monsoon in the years 2012–2015. We recorded number of individuals (herd size), sex-age composition and number of individuals per unit area of herd's spread (compactness) for every herd under observation using instantaneous scan sampling in forest (176 herds) and farms (321 herds), while spatial trends in herd size on agricultural lands were studied using transect sampling at night. Vigilance behaviour was studied using focal-animal sampling in forest (n = 91) and farms (n = 52) by choosing a single individual per herd under 15 min of observation. Herd sizes were significantly larger in forest (monsoon, median = 3, interquartile range (IQR) = 2–6, post-monsoon, median = 5, IQR = 3–8) than on farms adjacent to forest (monsoon = 3, IQR = 1–5, post-monsoon = 4, IQR = 2–5) and further decreased non-linearly with distance from the forest edge. Herds were more compact, i.e. with smaller inter-individual distance in forests than on farms. Crop-raiding was found to be female-biased, and adult males as well as newborn calves were observed on agricultural lands significantly less frequently. The median vigilance frequency was significantly higher on farms (1.4 min−1) as compared with forests (0.205 min−1) but the median unit scan duration was significantly less in farms (6 s) compared with forest (60 s). The observed differences are likely to be due to difference in the nature of risk faced in the two habitats. In forest, detection of ambush predators such as tigers that occur at a low density, requires careful watch and larger herds increase the chances of detection. In contrast, detection of guarding farmers on agricultural lands who are present at a higher density and make their presence conspicuous to drive away crop raiders would need a glance of smaller time duration. As crop-raiding occurs at night, moonlight is likely to affect the frequency of crop-raiding but we did not find evidence for any deterrent effect of moonlight on the frequency of crop-raiding. The data suggest that the nilgai exhibits substantial behavioural plasticity in response to different nature and levels of risks faced in the two habitats.

Small mammals can impede tree regeneration by injuring seedlings and saplings in several ways. One fatal way is by severing their stems, but apparently this type of predation is not well-studied in tropical rain forest. Here, we report on the incidence of ‘stem-cutting’ to new, wild seedlings of two locally dominant, canopy tree species monitored in 40 paired forest understorey and gap-habitat areas in Korup, Cameroon following a 2007 masting event. In gap areas, which are required for the upward growth and sapling recruitment of both species, 137 seedlings of the long-lived, light-demanding, fast-growing large tropical tree (Microberlinia bisulcata) were highly susceptible to stem-cutting (83% of deaths) — it killed 39% of all seedlings over a c. 2-y period. In stark contrast, seedlings of the more shade-tolerant, slower-growing tree species (Tetraberlinia bifoliolata) were hardly attacked (4.3%). In the understorey, however, stem-cutting was virtually absent. Across the gap areas, the incidence of stem-cutting of M. bisulcata seedlings showed significant spatial variation that could not be explained significantly by either canopy openness or Janzen–Connell type effects (proximity and basal area of conspecific adult trees). To examine physical and chemical traits that might explain the species difference to being cut, bark and wood tissues were collected from a separate sample of seedlings in gaps (i.e. not monitored for stem-cutting). These analyses suggested that, compared with T. bifoliolata, the lower stem density, higher Mg and K and fatty acid concentrations in bark, and fewer phenolic and terpene compounds in M. bisulcata seedlings made them more palatable and attractive to small-mammal predators, likely rodents. We conclude that selective stem-cutting is a potent countervailing force to the current local canopy dominance of the grove-forming M. bisulcata by limiting the recruitment and abundance of its saplings. Given the ubiquity of gaps and ground-dwelling rodents in pantropical forests, it would be surprising if this form of lethal browsing was restricted to Korup.

The role of canopy gaps in tropical dry forest (TDF) dynamics remains unclear. Here, 75 canopy gaps, mostly formed by the fall of Bursera spp. and Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum individuals, are described, and their potential consequences for forest regeneration are analysed in a Mexican TDF. In 50 randomly selected gaps, understorey vegetation was sampled with a paired design (inside and outside gaps) and by distinguishing two plant height categories. In total, 1940 plants were recorded (63% in gaps and 37% in non-gap plots). Community attributes (density, community cover, taxonomic richness and Shannon diversity) were significantly higher for both height categories in gap plots. Conversely, neither an NMDS ordination nor a multinomial classification of 187 species by habitat affinities revealed floristic segregation between gaps and non-gaps; almost all species were classified as habitat generalists, with only a few opportunistic forbs (but no single tree species) being classified as gap specialists. The most important effects of gap formation are significant increases in plant abundance and species richness, but not a different species composition. Against earlier views that gap-phase dynamics is inconsequential for TDF dynamics, these results suggest a more active, albeit modest, role of treefall gaps in TDF, through promoting an abundant establishment.

Tropical tropical montane cloud forests (TMCFs) cover a small portion of the Earth, yet they are significant biodiversity hotspots and centres of endemism, and they provide important hydrological and biogeochemical functions that affect human livelihoods. Given their fundamental sensitivity to climate, TMCFs also serve as an early warning system for climate change impacts. This paper outlines a new international initiative, CloudNet, that aims to promote integrated research across TMCFs, and introduces a special issue that reviews emerging themes and topics in the ecology of TMCFs, highlighting knowledge gaps and suggesting new directions for research. CloudNet is helping coordinate several new research projects and protocols: (1) a global repository of TMCF data and meta-analyses across multiple sites; (2) a multi-site study of plant functional traits across TMCFs; (3) a multi-site study of decomposition processes across TMCFs; (4) a protocol for standardizing climate data collection across TMCFs. These studies are intended to evaluate the extent to which general patterns emerge, accounting for biogeographic, phylogenetic and environmental differences among sites. Common data collection across TMCFs should also allow better integration across disciplines, such as linking nutrient limitation, seed production and propagule recruitment, and enable cross-site comparisons of how TMCFs respond to drivers of global change, including rising cloud bases, increasing temperatures, altered disturbance regimes, biological invasions and extinction, and changing human land use.

Deforestation and forest fragmentation are contributing to declines in crop pollinator populations worldwide. Several studies have examined the impact of forest proximity on plant pollination ecology, but concentrated on single crop species. However, it can be more informative to investigate multiple crop and pollinator species in a community, because different pollinator groups may respond differently to forest distance. We evaluated flower visitor diversity, visitation frequency, and fruit set for three crop species (rambutan, durian and mango) in 10 pairs of mixed fruit orchards. Each pair consisted of one orchard near to (< 1 km) and one orchard far from (> 7 km) the forest edge. Rambutan fruit set was significantly influenced by distance to forest. The main visitors of rambutan flowers were stingless bees. In contrast, the dominant visitors to durian and mango flowers were nectarivorous bats and flies, respectively, and the fruit set of these crops were not significantly influenced by distance to forest. However, durian fruit set was negatively affected by distance to the nearest cave inhabited by nectarivorous bats. This study demonstrates that both caves and forests can be important pollinator sources for agricultural crops, and that the dispersal success of pollinators is related to isolation from source habitats. Maintaining forest patches and limestone karsts may provide stepping stones across fragmented landscapes, and attract greater numbers of pollinators to agricultural areas.

In stable populations with constant demographic rates, size distributions reflect size-dependent patterns of growth and mortality. However, population growth can also affect size distributions, which may not be aligned with current growth and mortality. Using 25 y of demographic data from the 50-ha Barro Colorado Island plot, we examined how interspecific variation in diameter distributions of over 150 tropical trees relates to growth–diameter and mortality–diameter curves and to population growth rates. Diameter distributions were more skewed in species with faster increases/slower decreases in absolute growth and mortality with diameter and higher population growth rates. The strongest predictor of the diameter distribution shape was the exponent governing the scaling of growth with diameter (partial R2 = 0.20–0.34), which differed among growth forms, indicating a role of life history variation. However, interspecific variation in diameter distributions was also significantly related to population growth rates (partial R2 = 0.03–0.23), reinforcing that many populations are not at equilibrium. Consequently, although fitted size distribution parameters were positively related to theoretical predictions based on current size-dependent growth and mortality, there was considerable deviation. These analyses show that temporally variable demographic rates, probably related to cyclic climate variation, are important influences on forest structure.

Describing and understanding growth patterns in tropical forests is crucial to assessing their role in carbon balance. Growth and vital rates of a protected gallery forest in central Brazil were estimated, based on six measurement intervals between 1985 and 2009. The sample consisted of all stems ≥ 10 cm diameter at breast height measured in 151 permanent plots (10 × 20 m), distributed in 10 transects perpendicular to the watercourse and 100 m apart from each other. Statistical significance of changes in density, basal area, growth and vital rates were tested using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Vital rates oscillated during the study period. Growth, recruitment and turnover rates fluctuated, but had a net decrease over the whole study period, whereas mortality seemed to be affected by a high disturbance event during the 1994–1999 period. The oscillatory behaviour of growth suggests that the forest is pulsating around a stable state (dynamic equilibrium). Nonetheless, persistence of decelerating growth trends may force the site's carrying capacity to a lower density or biomass state.

Two core questions in plant community ecology are to what extent the distributions of species are structured by local environmental conditions, and whether taxa differ in this regard. We compared the distributions of trees, Melastomataceae and ferns on soil and topographic gradients in a Costa Rican lowland rain forest (trees and ferns 983 plots, Melastomataceae 277 plots). To test whether these plant groups differed in the prevalence or type of habitat specialization, we calculated species’ environmental optima and tolerances on each gradient. Habitat specialization was defined as a significantly biased optimum, or a narrow tolerance, relative to values obtained under spatially restricted randomizations of species occurrences. Within plant groups, we also asked whether the dispersion of species optima differed from random expectation on each gradient. Fern optima were over-dispersed on multiple gradients, implying considerable interspecific habitat partitioning, and tree optima were over-dispersed in relation to topographic position. Habitat specialization was more prevalent in the two predominantly understorey groups than in trees (75% of Melastomataceae species, 81–87% of ferns, 57–58% of trees). Species optima of Melastomataceae and ferns also tended towards lower landscape positions than did those of trees, perhaps reflecting a higher proportion of drought-sensitive species in these two groups.

Canopy gaps create a temporary spatial heterogeneity, often allowing pioneer species to establish and grow in mature forests. In this study, we asked whether the above model holds for tropical dry forests in the Florida Keys. Six hundred and forty-eight canopy gaps in an extensive Key Largo forest were identified with a LiDAR digital canopy model. The structure and composition of juvenile trees were examined in 45 selected gaps in three stands of known age, and weighted averaging calibration and regression were applied to the data to determine the successional age optimum for each tree species, and the inferred age for each gap based on its sapling composition. Less than 1% of the forest area was recorded as canopy gaps in the LiDAR model. The inferred stand ages were about 70 y greater in canopy gaps in young forest than in the surrounding, unimpacted forest. This suggested that gap formation advanced succession rather than reversing or resetting it. The apparent lack of recruitment by early-successional species may be due to the small size of canopy gaps in this forest, and the minimal contrast between gap and understorey environments; light and water conditions in the small gaps may favour late-successional rather than pioneer species. Establishment of pioneer species may not take place without intense, large-scale disturbances such as fires and hurricanes that remove the entire canopy and consume or erode soils.

The influence of geomorphological features on rain-forest diversity has been reported in different Amazonian regions. Soil filtering is often assumed to underlie the observed geomorphic control on the floristic composition but other hypotheses related to biogeography or long-term forest dynamics are also possible. We tested relationships between geomorphology, soil properties and forest composition in French Guiana rain forest using a recent geomorphological map and a large dataset comprising 3132 0.2-ha plots and 421 soil cores. Soil properties were characterized by laboratory analyses and by field descriptions indicating drainage capacity and classification according to the World Reference Base (WRB). The influence of soils and geomorphology on beta-diversity was tested using variance partitioning and ANOVA-like tests. Our results confirm the hypothesis of a strong relationship between geomorphological landscapes and soil properties. Soil filtering significantly influenced the abundance of more than 40 species or groups of species. However geomorphic control of forest composition involves much more than the effects of the soil, which only explain a minor part of the broad-scale patterns of forest diversity related to geomorphological landscapes. These results reinforce the alternative hypotheses linking geomorphological landscapes to long-term forest change under the control of historical processes that shaped forest diversity.

Tropical montane cloud forests (TMCF) are characterized by short trees, often twisted with multiple stems, with many stems per ground area, a large stem diameter to height ratio, and small, often thick leaves. These forests exhibit high root to shoot ratio, with a moderate leaf area index, low above-ground production, low leaf nutrient concentrations and often with luxuriant epiphytic growth. These traits of TMCF are caused by climatic conditions not geological substrate, and are particularly associated with frequent or persistent fog and low cloud. There are several reasons why fog might result in these features. Firstly, the fog and clouds reduce the amount of light received per unit area of ground and as closed-canopy forests absorb most of the light that reaches them the reduction in the total amount of light reduces growth. Secondly, the rate of photosynthesis per leaf area declines in comparison with that in the lowlands, which leads to less carbon fixation. Nitrogen supply limits growth in several of the few TMCFs where it has been investigated experimentally. High root : shoot biomass and production ratios are common in TMCF, and soils are often wet which may contribute to N limitation. Further study is needed to clarify the causes of several key features of TMCF ecosystems including high tree diameter : height ratio.

Most evidence suggests anthropogenic edges negatively affect rain-forest bird communities but little has been done to test this in Australasia. In this study, avifaunal detection frequency, species richness and community composition were compared between the edge and interior and between flat and more complex-shaped edges of riparian rain-forest tracts in Tropical North Queensland. The detection frequency and richness of guilds based on diet, foraging strata and habitat specialism were also compared. This study detected 15.1% more birds at the rain-forest edge compared with the interior but no difference in species richness. Edge shape had no effect on detection frequency or richness. Many guilds (subcanopy, closed forest, frugivorous and insectivorous species) experienced increased detection frequency at the edge relative to the interior, but for some guilds this response was reduced (habitat generalists) or reversed (understorey and mixed-flock species) along complex edges. Overall community composition was affected by edge distance but not by edge shape. Edge habitat was shorter and had more open canopy than the interior, supporting habitat-based explanations for the observed avifaunal edge effects. These results suggest generally positive edge effects in Australian rain-forest bird communities, possibly reflecting local resource distributions or a disturbance-tolerant species pool.

Environmental filtering and competitive interactions are important ecological processes in community assembly. The contribution of the two processes to community assembly can be evaluated by shifts in functional diversity patterns. We examined the correlations between functional diversity of six traits (leaf chlorophyll concentration, dry matter content, size, specific leaf area, thickness and wood density) and environmental gradients (topography and soil) for 92 species in the 20-ha Dinghushan forest plot in China. A partial Mantel test showed that most of the community-weighted mean trait values changed with terrain convexity and soil fertility, which implied that environmental filtering was occurring. Functional diversity of many traits significantly increased with increasing terrain convexity and soil fertility, which was associated with increased light and below-ground resources respectively. These results suggest that co-occurring species are functionally convergent in regions of strong abiotic stress under the environmental filtering, but functionally divergent in more benign environments due to resource partitioning and competitive interactions. Single-trait diversity and multivariate functional diversity had different relationships with environmental factors, indicating that traits were related to different niche axes, and associated with different ecological processes, which demonstrated the importance of focusing niche axes in traits selection. Between 9% and 41% of variation in functional diversity of different traits was explained by environmental factors in stepwise multiple regression models. Terrain convexity and soil fertility were the best predictors of functional diversity, which contributed 30.5% and 29.0% of total R2 to the model. These provided essential evidence that different environmental factors had distinguishing impacts on regulating diversity of traits.

When animals or groups of animals in their wild habitats come close to each other within a defined distance, it is termed as an association. Observing two groups of the lion-tailed macaque at Nelliyampathy and Andiparai forests of the Western Ghats of India, we asked whether the lion-tailed macaque associations with the sympatric Nilgiri langur and bonnet macaque were by chance or had any biological significance. Employing ‘all occurrences’ sampling, we recorded an association if a group of another primate species came within 30 m of the focal group of the lion-tailed macaque. Date, time, associating species, activity of the study species and of the associating species, type of interaction, aggressor and the recipient, species displaced and duration of the association were recorded. We used the Waser gas model to calculate the expected frequency and duration of associations and compared them with the observed associations. The lion-tailed macaque spent less time in associations than expected. The lion-tailed macaque and the Nilgiri langur initiated associations less often, and remained in association for less time, than expected by chance. Whereas the expected and observed initiation of associations between the lion-tailed macaque and the Nilgiri langur in Nelliyampathy was significantly different (expected rate = 153; observed rate = 64), in Andiparai, it was not (expected rate = 55.5; observed rate = 61). The expected and observed association duration was significantly different in Nelliyampathy (expected duration = 54 min; observed duration = 15 min) and Andiparai (expected duration = 48 min; observed duration = 19 min). In contrast, we detected few differences between observed and expected association frequency for the lion-tailed macaque and the bonnet macaque. Aggressive interactions were common in areas where density of the Nilgiri langur groups was high. This is the first study on Asian primates using the ideal gas approach to show that primates do not form active associations with each other.

Tropical montane forests (TMF) are associated with a widely observed suite of characteristics encompassing forest structure, plant traits and biogeochemistry. With respect to nutrient relations, montane forests are characterized by slow decomposition of organic matter, high investment in below-ground biomass and poor litter quality, relative to tropical lowland forests. However, within TMF there is considerable variation in substrate age, parent material, disturbance and species composition. Here we emphasize that many TMFs are likely to be co-limited by multiple nutrients, and that feedback among soil properties, species traits, microbial communities and environmental conditions drive forest productivity and soil carbon storage. To date, studies of the biogeochemistry of montane forests have been restricted to a few, mostly neotropical, sites and focused mainly on trees while ignoring mycorrhizas, epiphytes and microbial community structure. Incorporating the geographic, environmental and biotic variability in TMF will lead to a greater recognition of plant–soil feedbacks that are critical to understanding constraints on productivity, both under present conditions and under future climate, nitrogen-deposition and land-use scenarios.

We studied the vegetation and soil properties of a dry forest that had once been disturbed in central Myanmar using 30 quadrats (20 × 20 m) established in 2012. For 30 species, the overall density was 706 individuals ha−1, and the basal area was 2.92 m2 ha−1. The forest was a mosaic of six community types, each of which was dominated by a single species. Dominant species that were capable of resprouting accounted for 47–78% of the total density and 56–83% of the basal area of the communities. We related seven soil properties to the vegetation patterns using canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). The CCA results highlighted remarkable associations of species such as Acacia catechu, Dalbergia paniculata, Terminalia oliveri and Millettia multiflora with soil texture. Acacia inopinata was associated with a high soil pH (i.e. 9–10), and Terminalia tomentosa was associated with soil hardness. Our results indicate that secondary succession of a dry forest is not initially led by pioneer species, but instead, by superior competitors capable of resprouting, and that species distributions are primarily determined by the filtering effects of edaphic conditions. We believe that the dry-forest species retain their soil–species relationships despite heavy disturbances.

Amazonian white-sand vegetation has unique tree communities tolerant to nutrient-poor soils of interest for interpreting processes of adaptation in neotropical forests. Part of this phytophysionomy is confined to Late Quaternary megafan palaeo-landforms, thus we posit that sedimentary disturbance is the main ecological factor controlling tree distribution and structuring in this environment. In this study, we characterize the topographic trend of one megafan palaeo-landform using a digital elevation model and verify its relationship to the forest by modelling the canopy height with remote sensing data. We also compare the composition and structure (i.e. canopy height and diameter at breast height) of tree groups from the outer and inner megafan environments based on the integration of remote sensing and floristic data. The latter consist of field inventories of trees ≥ 10 cm dbh using six (500 × 20 m) plots in várzea, terra firme and igapó from the outer megafan and 20 (50 × 20 m) plots in woodlands and forests from the inner megafan. The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) and the non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) were applied for clustering and dissimilarity analyses, respectively. The megafan is a sand-dominated triangular wetland with a topographic gradient of < 15 cm km−1, being more elevated along its axis. The outer megafan has a higher number of tree species (367), taller canopy height (mean of 14.1 m) and higher diameter at breast height (mean of 18.2 cm) than the white-sand forest. The latter records 89 tree species, mean canopy height of 8.4 cm and mean diameter at breast height of 15.3 cm. Trees increase in frequency closer to channels and toward the megafan's axis. The flooded and nutrient-poor sandy megafan substrate favoured the establishment of white-sand vegetation according to the overall megafan topography and morphological heterogeneities inherent to megafan sub-environments.

In tropical plant communities with diverse species, many congeners are found to coexist. Do environment or biotic interactions structure the coexistence of congeners in tropical forest communities? In this paper, we aimed to disentangle the effect of environment (first-order effects) and species interactions (second-order effects) on the spatial distributions of tree species. We used a classification scheme and torus-translation to test the first-order interaction of 48 species from 17 genera in a fully mapped 20-ha dipterocarp tropical seasonal rain-forest plot in Xishuangbanna, south-west China. Then we used heterogeneous Poisson null models to reveal significant uni- and bivariate second-order interactions. The results demonstrated that (1) 34 of the 48 studied species showed a significant relation with at least one topographic variable. This confirmed that topographical heterogeneity is important for distribution of these congeners. Spatial segregation (36.6%) and partial overlap (34.8%) were the most common bivariate association types in Xishuangbanna plot, which indicated first-order effects (environment) were strong. (2) For small-scale associations, 51% saplings (1 to ≤ 5 cm) (68.8% for large trees with dbh > 5 cm) of the species showed non-significant associations. For large-scale associations, 61.6% saplings (81.2% for large trees) of the species showed non-significant associations. Lack of significant species interactions provides evidence for the unified neutral theory. In conclusion, both environment and biotic interactions structure congeneric species' coexistence in tropical seasonal rain forest in this region.

Oil palm plantations are rapidly expanding in tropical areas, although the nature of the impacts on the functional roles of the different species in the ecosystem is poorly understood. The present study is the first assessment of how oil palm affects the functional diversity of birds in the Brazilian Amazon and tests the hypothesis that converting forest to oil palm decreases functional diversity of bird communities, selecting species more tolerant to environmental disturbances. We conducted point counts to survey bird communities in 16 plots in the eastern Amazon. We sampled 32 points in riparian forest, 128 in oil palm and 160 in forested habitats. To test whether the conversion of forest into oil palm plantations affects functional diversity of birds we calculated the FD (Functional Diversity) and FRic (Functional Richness) indices. To examine whether oil palm plantations select species functionally more similar than expected by chance we used a null model (SES.FD). FD was significantly higher in the forest plots in comparison with riparian forests and oil palm, and lower in oil palm when compared with riparian forests. FRic, in turn, was greater in forest plots than in oil palm and in riparian forest. These results show that the conversion of forested areas to oil palm represents a great loss of functional strategies. The SES values indicate that in forested habitats bird communities tend to be functionally clustered while in the oil palm they are functionally overdispersed. The functional traits most affected by oil palm were those associated with diet and foraging stratum. In short, oil palm plantations reduced functional diversity of birds, although the presence of riparian forests within the plantations and the fragments of forest adjacent are extremely important for the maintenance of ecosystem services.

In equatorial regions, where tree rings are less distinct or even absent, the response of forests to high-frequency climate variability is poorly understood. We measured stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in anatomically distinct, annual growth rings of four Pericopsis elata trees from a plantation in the Congo Basin, to assess their sensitivity to recorded changes in precipitation over the last 50 y. Our results suggest that oxygen isotopes have high common signal strength (EPS = 0.74), and respond to multi-annual precipitation variability at the regional scale, with low δ18O values (28–29‰) during wetter conditions (1960–1970). Conversely, δ13C are mostly related to growth variation, which in a light-demanding species are driven by competition for light. Differences in δ13C values between fast- and slow-growing trees (c. 2‰), result in low common signal strength (EPS = 0.37) and are driven by micro-site conditions rather than by climate. This study highlights the potential for understanding the causes of growth variation in P. elata as well as past hydroclimatic changes, in a climatically complex region characterized by a bimodal distribution in precipitation.