Abstract
A preliminary series of transects, covering approximately the first 200 years of forest development on undisturbed riverbends in Peruvian lowland forest, were analyzed for community changes in plant dispersal spectrum and its apparent consequences. The annual beach community is composed of approximately half true beach species and half seedlings of forest species. The seedlings of those species dominating the canopy for the first few centuries are present at the initial stages of forest development, and the riverbend deposition process is seen as critical for the maintenance of naturally occuring stands of large trees. Water, bats and wind are the principal initial determinants of forest community structure. Both the understory and canopy fill in first with more bird-dispersed and later with more mammal-dispersed species. Some floristic differences between adjacent old river levees are attributable to age and site characteristics, but seed availability and dispersal are probably more important.
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© 1986 Dr W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht
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Foster, R.B., Arce, J.B., Wachter, T.S. (1986). Dispersal and the sequential plant communities in Amazonian Peru floodplain. In: Estrada, A., Fleming, T.H. (eds) Frugivores and seed dispersal. Tasks for vegetation science, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4812-9_31
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4812-9_31
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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