TY - JOUR
T1 - Annual Rainfall and Seasonality Predict Pan-tropical Patterns of Liana Density and Basal Area
AU - DeWalt, Saara J.
AU - Schnitzer, Stefan A.
AU - Chave, Jérôme
AU - Bongers, Frans
AU - Burnham, Robyn J.
AU - Cai, Zhiquan
AU - Chuyong, Georges
AU - Clark, David B.
AU - Ewango, Corneille E.N.
AU - Gerwing, Jeffrey J.
AU - Gortaire, Esteban
AU - Hart, Terese
AU - Ibarra-Manríquez, Guillermo
AU - Ickes, Kalan
AU - Kenfack, David
AU - Macía, Manuel J.
AU - Makana, Jean Remy
AU - Martínez-Ramos, Miguel
AU - Mascaro, Joseph
AU - Moses, Sainge
AU - Muller-Landau, Helene C.
AU - Parren, Marc P.E.
AU - Parthasarathy, Narayanaswamy
AU - Pérez-Salicrup, Diego R.
AU - Putz, Francis E.
AU - Romero-Saltos, Hugo
AU - Thomas, Duncan
PY - 2010/5
Y1 - 2010/5
N2 - We test the hypotheses proposed by Gentry and Schnitzer that liana density and basal area in tropical forests vary negatively with mean annual precipitation (MAP) and positively with seasonality. Previous studies correlating liana abundance with these climatic variables have produced conflicting results, warranting a new analysis of drivers of liana abundance based on a different dataset. We compiled a pan-tropical dataset containing 28,953 lianas (≥2.5 cm diam.) from studies conducted at 13 Neotropical and 11 Paleotropical dry to wet lowland tropical forests. The ranges in MAP and dry season length (DSL) (number of months with mean rainfall <100 mm) represented by these datasets were 860-7250 mm/yr and 0-7 mo, respectively. Pan-tropically, liana density and basal area decreased significantly with increasing annual rainfall and increased with increasing DSL, supporting the hypotheses of Gentry and Schnitzer. Our results suggest that much of the variation in liana density and basal area in the tropics can be accounted for by the relatively simple metrics of MAP and DSL.
AB - We test the hypotheses proposed by Gentry and Schnitzer that liana density and basal area in tropical forests vary negatively with mean annual precipitation (MAP) and positively with seasonality. Previous studies correlating liana abundance with these climatic variables have produced conflicting results, warranting a new analysis of drivers of liana abundance based on a different dataset. We compiled a pan-tropical dataset containing 28,953 lianas (≥2.5 cm diam.) from studies conducted at 13 Neotropical and 11 Paleotropical dry to wet lowland tropical forests. The ranges in MAP and dry season length (DSL) (number of months with mean rainfall <100 mm) represented by these datasets were 860-7250 mm/yr and 0-7 mo, respectively. Pan-tropically, liana density and basal area decreased significantly with increasing annual rainfall and increased with increasing DSL, supporting the hypotheses of Gentry and Schnitzer. Our results suggest that much of the variation in liana density and basal area in the tropics can be accounted for by the relatively simple metrics of MAP and DSL.
KW - Abundance
KW - Climate
KW - Liana communities
KW - Tropical forest
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77954129315&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2009.00589.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2009.00589.x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77954129315
SN - 0006-3606
VL - 42
SP - 309
EP - 317
JO - Biotropica
JF - Biotropica
IS - 3
ER -
