Journal article
Legume abundance along successional and rainfall gradients in Neotropical forests
Nature Ecology & Evolution, Vol.2(7), pp.1104-1111
2018
Abstract
The nutrient demands of regrowing tropical forests are partly satisfied by nitrogen-fixing legume trees, but our understanding of the abundance of those species is biased towards wet tropical regions. Here we show how the abundance of Leguminosae is affected by both recovery from disturbance and large-scale rainfall gradients through a synthesis of forest inventory plots from a network of 42 Neotropical forest chronosequences. During the first three decades of natural forest regeneration, legume basal area is twice as high in dry compared with wet secondary forests. The tremendous ecological success of legumes in recently disturbed, water-limited forests is likely to be related to both their reduced leaflet size and ability to fix N2, which together enhance legume drought tolerance and water-use efficiency. Earth system models should incorporate these large-scale successional and climatic patterns of legume dominance to provide more accurate estimates of the maximum potential for natural nitrogen fixation across tropical forests.
Details
- Title
- Legume abundance along successional and rainfall gradients in Neotropical forests
- Authors
- M Gei (Author)Danaë M A Rozendaal (Author)Lourens Poorter (Author)Frans Bongers (Author)Janet I Sprent (Author)Mira D Garner (Author)T Mitchell Aide (Author)José Luis Andrade (Author)Patricia Balvanera (Author)Justin M Becknell (Author)Pedro H S Brancalion (Author)George A L Cabral (Author)Ricardo Gomes César (Author)Robin L Chazdon (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts, Business and LawRebecca J Cole (Author)Gabriel Dalla Colletta (Author)Ben de Jong (Author)Julie S Denslow (Author)Daisy H Dent (Author)Saara J DeWalt (Author)Juan Manuel Dupuy (Author)Sandra M Durán (Author)Mário Marcos Espírito Santo (Author)G Wilson Fernandes (Author)Yule Roberta Ferreira Nunes (Author)Bryan Finegan (Author)Vanessa Granda Moser (Author)Jefferson S Hall (Author)José Luis Hernández-Stefanoni (Author)André B Junqueira (Author)Deborah Kennard (Author)Edwin Lebrija-Trejos (Author)Susan G Letcher (Author)Madelon Lohbeck (Author)Erika Marín-Spiotta (Author)Miguel Martínez-Ramos (Author)Jorge A Meave (Author)Duncan N L Menge (Author)Francisco Mora (Author)Rodrigo Muñoz (Author)Robert Muscarella (Author)Susana Ochoa-Gaona (Author)Edith Orihuela-Belmonte (Author)Rebecca Ostertag (Author)Marielos Peña-Claros (Author)Eduardo A Pérez-Garcia (Author)Daniel Piotto (Author)Peter B Reich (Author)Casandra Reyes-Garcia (Author)Jorge Rodriguez-Velázquez (Author)I Eunice Romero-Pérez (Author)Lucia Sanaphre-Villanueva (Author)Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa (Author)Naomi B Schwartz (Author)Arlete Silva de Almeida (Author)Jarcilene S Almeida-Cortez (Author)Whendee Silver (Author)Vanessa de Souza Moreno (Author)Benjamin W Sullivan (Author)Nathan G Swenson (Author)Maria Uriarte (Author)Michiel van Breugel (Author)Hans van der Wal (Author)Maria das Dores Magalhaes Veloso (Author)Hans F M Vester (Author)Ima Célia Guimaraes Vieira (Author)Jess K Zimmerman (Author)Jennifer S Powers (Author)
- Publication details
- Nature Ecology & Evolution, Vol.2(7), pp.1104-1111
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date published
- 2018
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41559-018-0559-6
- ISSN
- 2397-334X
- Organisation Unit
- Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Forest Research Institute
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450800402621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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