Abstract
In tropical moist forests, disturbance may enhance the coexistence of species through reduction of competition by dominants (Connell 1978; Huston 1979) and creation of establishment sites for seedlings (Brokaw 1985; Denslow 1980a, 1987). However, intense, repeated, and extensive human disturbance causes high rates of species extinctions (Wilson 1988). The debate on how best to manage tropical forests commercially shows that the relations between disturbance patterns, species diversity, and ecosystem processes are not well understood (Whitmore and Sayer 1992). In particular, the effects of species richness on disturbance regimes and successional patterns are more poorly understood than the effects of disturbance on community composition. This chapter examines the effects of species and groups of species on both disturbance regimes and the successional processes they trigger.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alvarez-Buylla ER, Garcia-Barrios R (1991) Seed and forest dynamics: a theoretical framework and an example from the Neotropics. Am Nat 137:133–154.
Augspurger CK (1984) Pathogen mortality of tropical tree seedlings: experimental studies of the effects of dispersal distance, seedling density, and light conditions. Oecologia 61:211–217.
Augspurger CK, Hutchings MW, Watson AR, Davy AJ (1988) Impact of pathogens on natural plant populations. In: Plant population ecology. 28th Symp Br Ecol Soc, Blackwell, pp 413–433.
Bazzaz FA, Pickett STA (1980) Physiological ecology of tropical succession: a comparative review. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 11:287–310.
Beard JS (1955) The classification of tropical American vegetation types. Ecology 36:89–100.
Becker P, Rabenold PE, Idol JR, Smith AP (1988) Water potential gradients for gaps and slopes in a Panamanian tropical moist forest dry season. J Trop Ecol 4:173–184.
Bellingham PJ (1991) Landforms influence patterns of hurricane damage: evidence from Jamaican montane forests. Biotropica 23:427–433.
Blair JM, Parmalee RW, Beare MH (1990) Decay rates, nitrogen fluxes, and decomposer communities of single-and mixed-species foliar litter. Ecology 71:1976–1985.
Bloomfield J, Vogt KA, Vogt DJ (1993) Decay rate and substrate quality of fine roots and foliage of two tropical tree species in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. Plant and Soil 150:233–245.
Brandani A, Hartshorn GS, Orians GH (1988) Internal heterogeneity of gaps and species richness in Costa Rican tropical wet forest. J Trop Ecol 4:99–119.
Brokaw NVL (1982) Treefalls: frequency, timing and consequences. In: Leigh Jr EG, Rand AS, Windsor DM (eds) The ecology of a tropical forest: seasonal rhythms and long-term changes. Smithsonian Inst Press, Washington DC, pp 101–108.
Brokaw NVL (1985) Treefalls, regrowth and community structure in tropical forests. In: Pickett STA, White PS (eds) The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Academic Press, Orlando, pp 53–69.
Brokaw NVL, Scheiner SM (1989) Species composition in gaps and structure of a tropical forest. Ecology 70:514–538.
Brown S, Lugo AE (1990) Tropical secondary forests. J Trop Ecol 6:1–32.
Bullock SH, Mooney HA, Medina E (1995) Seasonally dry tropical forests. Cambridge Univ Press, New York.
Christensen NL, Peet RK (1981) Secondary forest succession on the North Carolina piedmont. In: West DC, Shugart HH, Botkin DB (eds) Forest succession: concepts and applications. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 230–245.
Clark DA (1994) Plant demography. In: McDade LA, Bawa KS, Hespenheide HA, Hartshorn GS (eds) La Selva. Ecology and natural history of a Neotropical rain forest. Univ Chicago Press. Chicago, pp 90–105.
Clark DA, Clark DB (1992) Life history diversity of canopy and emergent trees in a neotropical rainforest. Ecol Monogr 62:315–344.
Clark DB (1991) The impact of physical damage on canopy tree regeneration in tropical rainforest. J Ecol 79:447–457.
Condit R, Hubbell SP, Foster RB (1992) Recruitment near conspecific adults and the maintenance of tree and shrub diversity in a neotropical forest. Am Nat 140:261–286.
Connell JH (1978) Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 199:1302–1310.
Connell JH, Lowman MD (1989) Low-diversity tropical rain forests: some possible mechanisms for their existence. Am Nat 134:88–119.
Connell JH, Slatyer RO (1977) Mechanisms of succession in natural communities and their role in community stability and organization. Am Nat 111:1119–1144.
Croat TB (1978) Flora of Barro Colorado Island. Stanford Univ Press, Stanford, CA.
Crow TR (1971) A rain forest chronicle: 30 year record of change in structure and composition at El Verde, Puerto Rico. Biotropica 12:42–55.
Denslow JS (1978) Secondary succession in a Colombian rainforest: Strategies of species response across a disturbance gradient. PhD Thesis, Univ Wisconsin, Madison.
Denslow JS (1980a) Gap partitioning among tropical rainforest trees. Biotropica 12 (Suppl):47–55.
Denslow JS (1980b) Patterns of plant species diversity during succession under different disturbance regimes. Oecologia 46:18–21.
Denslow JS (1985) Disturbance-mediated coexistence of species In: Pickett STA, White PS (eds) The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Academic Press, Orlando, pp 307–323.
Denslow JS (1987) Tropical treefall gaps and tree species diversity. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 18:431–451.
Denslow JS, Hartshorn GS (1994) Treefall gap environments. In: McDade LA, Bawa K, Hespenheide H, Hartshorn GS (eds) La Selva: ecology and natural history of a Neotropical rain forest. Univ Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 120–127.
Denslow JS, Schultz J, Vitousek PM, Strain B (1990) Growth response of tropical shrubs to treefall gap environments. Ecology 71:165–179.
Denslow JS, Newell E, Ellison AM (1991) The effect of understory palms and cyclanths on the growth and survival of Inga seedlings. Biotropica 23:225–234.
Drury WH, Nisbet ICT (1973) Succession. J. Arnold Arbor 16:331–368.
Ellison AM, Denslow JS, Loiselle BA, Brenes D (1993) Seed and seedling ecology of Neotropical Melastomataceae. Ecology 74:1733–1749.
Ewel JJ (1983) Succession. In: Golley FB (ed) Tropical rainforest ecosystems. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 217–223.
Ewel JJ, Mazzarino MJ, Berish CW (1991) Tropical soil fertility changes under monocultures and successional communities of different structure. Ecol Appl 1:289–302.
Foster RB (1990) Long-term change in the successional forest community of the Río Manu floodplain. In: Gentry AH (ed) Four Neotropical forests. Yale Univ Press, New Haven, pp 565–572.
Garwood N (1983) Seed germination in a seasonal tropical forest in Panama: a community study. Ecol Monogr 53:159–181.
Garwood N, Janos DP, Brokaw N (1979) Earthquake-caused landslides: a major disturbance to tropical forests. Science 205:997–999.
Gentry AH (1982) Patterns of neotropical plant species diversity. Evol Biol 15:1–84.
Gentry AH (1995) Diversity and floristic composition of Neotropical dry forests. In: Bullock SH, Mooney HA, Medina E (eds) Seasonally dry tropical forests. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge.
Gilbert LE (1980) Food web organization and conservation of Neotropical diversity. In: Soulé ME, Wilcox B (eds) Conservation biology. Sinauer, Sunderland, MA, pp 11–33.
Goldhammer JG, Scibert B (1989) Natural rain forest fires in eastern Borneo during the Pleistocene and Holocene. Naturwissenschaften 76:518–520.
Greig-Smith P (1983) Quantitative plant ecology, 3rd edn. Univ California Press, Berkeley, CA.
Grime JP (1977) Evidence for the existence of three primary strategies in plants and its relevance to ecological and evolutionary theory. Am Nat 111:1169–1194.
Guariguata MR (1990) Landslide disturbances and forest regeneration in upper Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico. J Ecol 78:814–832.
Guevara S, Purata SE, van der Maarel E (1986) The role of remnant forest trees in tropical secondary succession. Vegetatio 66: 77–84.
Hallé F, Oldeman RAA, Tomlinson B (1978) Tropical trees and forests. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York.
Hart TB, Hart JA, Murphy PG (1989) Monodominant and species-rich forests of the humid tropics: causes for their co-occurrence. Am Nat 133:613–633.
Hartshorn GS, Pariona W (1993) Ecological sustainable forest management in the Peruvian Amazon. In: Potter C, Cohen J, Janczewski D (eds) Perspectives on biodiversity: case studies of genetic resource conservation and development. AAAS Press, Washington DC, pp 151–166.
Holling CS, Schindler DW, Walker BW, Roughgarden J (1995) Biodiversity in the functioning of ecosystems: an ecological primer and synthesis. In: Maler KG, Floke C, Jansson BO, Holling CS (eds) Biodiversity loss: theoretical economic and ecological issues (in press).
Howe HF, Smallwood J (1982) Ecology of seed dispersal. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 13:201–228.
Hubbell SP, Foster RB (1986a) Commonness and rarity in a Neotropical forest: implications for tropical tree conservation. In: Soulé M (ed) Conservation biology: science of scarcity and diversity. Sinauer, Sunderland, MA, pp 205–231.
Hubbell SP, Foster RB (1986b) Biology, chance and history and the structure of tropical rain forest tree communities. In: Diamond J, Case TJ (eds) Community ecology. Harper and Row, New York pp 314–329.
Huston M (1979) A general hypothesis of species diversity. Am Nat 113:81–101.
Huston MA, Smith TM (1987) Plant succession: life-history and competition. Am Nat 130:168–198.
Janos DP (1980) Mycorrhizae influence succession. Biotropica 12 (Suppl):56–64.
Janzen DH (1970) Herbivores and the number of tree species in tropical forests. Am Nat 104:501–528.
Jordan CF (1985) Nutrient cycling in tropical forest ecosystems. Wiley, New York.
Kellman M (1980) Geographic patterning in tropical weed communities and early secondary successions. Biotropica 12:34–39.
Kellman M, Adams CD (1970) Milpa week’s of Cayo District, Belize (British Honduras). Can Geogr 14:323–343.
Knight DH (1975) A phytosociological analysis of species rich tropical forest on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Ecol Monogr 45:259–284.
Kowal NE (1966) Shifting cultivation, fire, and pine forest in the Cordillera Central, Luzon, Philippines. Ecol Monogr 36:389–419.
Lawton JH, Brown VK (1993) Redundancy in ecosystems. In: Schulze E-D, Mooney HA (eds) Biodiversity and ecosystem function. Ecological Studies 99. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 255–270.
Lieberman D, Lieberman M, Hartshorn GS, Peralta R (1985) Growth rates and age-size relationships of tropical wet forest trees in Costa Rica. J Trop Ecol 1:97–109.
Loiselle BA, Blake JG (1991) Temporal variation in birds and fruits along an elevational gradient in Costa Rica. Ecology 72:180–193.
Lott EJ, Bullock SH, Solis-Magallanes JA (1987) Floristic diversity and structure of upland and arroyo forests of coastal Jalisco. Biotropica 19:228–235.
Lugo A (1992) Comparison of tropical tree plantations with secondary forests of similar age. Ecol Monogr 62:1–41.
Medina E (1995) Diversity of life-forms of higher plants in Neotropical dry forests. In: Bullock SH, Mooney HA, Medina E (eds) Seasonally dry tropical forests. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge.
Moermond TC, Denslow JS (1985) Neotropical frugivores: patterns of behavior, morphology, and nutrition with consequences for fruit selection. In: Buckley PA, Foster MS, Morton ES, Ridgely RS, Smith NG (eds) Neotropical ornithology. AOU Monogr, vol 36, pp 865–897.
Mueller-Dombois D (1983) Canopy dieback and successional processes in Pacific forests. Pac Sci 37:317–325.
Murphy PG, Lugo AE (1986) Ecology of tropical dry forest. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 17:89–96.
Nye PH, Greenland P (1961) The soil under shifting cultivation. Commonw Agric Bur, Farnham, England.
Pickett STA (1976) Succession: an evolutionary interpretation. Am Nat 110:107–119.
Putz FE (1984) The natural history of lianas on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Ecology 65:1713–1724.
Putz FE, Mooney HA (1991) The biology of vines. Cambridge U. Press, New York.
Quigley MF (1994) Latitudinal gradients in temperate and tropical seasonal forests. PhD Dissertation, Louisiana State Univ, Baton Rouge, LA.
Rankin JM (1978) The influence of seed predation and plant competition on tree species abundances in two adjacent tropical rain forests. PhD Thesis, Univ Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Rankin-de-Merona JM, Hutchings H, RW, Lovejoy TE (1990) Tree mortality and recruitment over a five year period in undisturbed upland rain forest of the Central Amazon. In: Gentry AH (ed) Four Neotropical rainforests. Yale Univ Press, New Haven, pp 573–584.
Raunkiaer C (1934) The life-forms of plants and statistical plant geography. Oxford Univ Press, Oxford.
Read DJ (1991) Mycorrhizas in ecosystems. Experientia 47:376–390.
Redford KH, Padoch C (eds) (1992) Conservation of Neotropical rainforests: working from traditional resource use. Columbia Univ Press, New York.
Root R (1967) The niche exploitation pattern of the blue-grey gnatcatcher. Ecol Monogr 37:317–350.
Saldarriaga JG, Luxmoore RJ (1991) Solar energy conversion efficiencies during succession of a tropical rain forest in Amazonia. J Trop Ecol 7:233–242.
Saldarriaga JG, West DC (1986) Holocene fires in the north Amazon Basin. Quat Res 26:358–366.
Saldarriaga JG, West DC, Tharp ML, Uhl C (1988) Long term chronosequence of forest succession in the upper Rio Negro of Colombia and Venezuela. J Ecol 76:938–958.
Salo J, Kalliola R, Häkkinen I, Mäkinen Y, Niemelä P, Puhakka M, Coley PD (1986) River dynamics and the diversity of Amazon lowland forest. Nature (Lond) 322:254–258.
Sanford Jr. RL, Baker HE, Hartshorn GS (1986) Canopy openings in a primary Neotropical lowland forest. J Trop Ecol 2:277–282.
Sanford Jr RL, Saldarriaga J, Clark KE, Uhl C, Herrera R (1985) Amazon rainforest fires. Science 227:53–55.
Sarmiento G (1972) Ecological and floristic convergences between seasonal plant formations of tropical and subtropical South America. J Ecol 60:367–410.
Smith AP (1987) Respuestas de hierbas del sotobosque tropical a claros ocasionados por la caida de àrboles. Rev Biol Trop 35(Suppl 1):111–118.
Solbrig OT (1993) Plant traits and adaptive strategies: their role in ecosystem function. In: Schulze E-D, Mooney HA (eds) Biodiversity and ecosystem function. Ecological Studies 99. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 97–116.
Sollins P, Radulovich R (1988) Effects of soil physical structure on solute transport in a weathered tropical soil. Soil Sci Soc Am J 52:1168–1173.
Stemmermann L (1983) Ecological studies of Hawaiian Metrosideros in a successional context. Pac Sci 37:361–373.
Stiles FG (1983) Chapter 10. Birds. In: Janzen DH (ed) Costa Rican natural history. Univ Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, pp 502–618.
Stiles FG (1988) Altitudinal movements of birds on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica: implications for conservation. In: Almeda F, Pringle CM (eds) Tropical rain forest: diversity and conservation. Calif Acad Sci, San Francisco, pp 243–258.
Strong D (1977) Epiphyte loads, treefalls, and perennial forest disruption: a mechanism for maintaining higher tree species richness in the tropics without animals. J Biogeogr 4:215–218.
Uhl C (1987) Factors controlling succession following slash-and-burn agriculture in Amazonia. J Ecol 75:377–407.
Uhl C (1988) Restoration of degraded lands in the Amazon basin. In: Wilson EO, Peter FM (eds) Biodiversity. Natl Acad Press, Washington DC, pp 326–333.
Uhl C, Kauffman JB (1990) Deforestation, fire susceptibility, and potential tree responses to fire in the eastern Amazon. Ecology 71:437–449.
Uhl C, Clark H, Clark K (1982) Successional patterns associated with slash-and-burn agriculture in the upper Rio Negro region of the Amazon Basin. Biotropica 14:249–254.
Uhl C, Clark K, Dezzeo N, Maquirino P (1988) Vegetation dynamics in Amazonian treefall gaps. Ecology 69:751–763.
Vitousek PM (1984) Litterfall, nutrient cycling, and nutrient limitation in tropical forests. Ecology 65:285–298.
Vitousek PM, Denslow JS (1986) Nitrogen and phosphorus availability in treefall gaps of a lowland tropical rain forest. J Ecol 74:1167–1178.
Vitousek PM, Hooper DM (1993) Biological diversity and terrestrial ecosystem biogeo-chemistry. In: Schulze E-D, Mooney HA (eds) Biodiversity and ecosystem function. Ecological Studies 99. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 3–14.
Vitousek PM, Walker LR (1989) Biological invasion of Myrica faya in Hawaii: plant demography, nitrogen fixation, and ecosystem effects. Ecol Monogr 59:247–265.
Vitousek PM, Walker LR, Whiteaker LD, Mueller-Dombois D, Matson PA (1987) Biological invasion by Myrica faya alters ecosystem development in Hawaii. Science 238:802–804.
Vitousek PM, Adsersen H, Loope LL (1995) (eds) Islands: biologica, diversity and ecosystem function. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York.
Walker LR (1991) Tree damage and recovery from Hurricane Hugo in Luquillo Experimental forest, Puerto Rico. Biotropica 23:379–385.
Weaver PL, Birdsey RA, Lugo AE (1987) Soil organic matter in secondary forests of Puerto Rico. Biotropica 19:17–23.
Wheelwright NT (1985) Fruit size, gape width, and diets of fruit-eating birds. Ecology 66:808–818.
Whigham DF, Olmsted I, Cabrera Cano E, Harmon ME (1991) The impact of Hurricane Gilbert on trees, litterfall, and woody debris in a dry tropical forest in the northeastern Yucatan Peninsula. Biotropica 23:434–441.
Whitmore TC (1984) Tropical rain forests of the Far East. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Whitmore TC (1989) Changes over 21 years in the Kolombangara rainforests. J Ecol 77:469–483.
Whitmore TC, Sayer JA (1992) Tropical deforestation and species extinction. Chapman and Hall, London.
Wilbur RL, Collaborators (1994) Vascular Plants: An interim checklist. In: McDade LA, Bawa K, Hespenheide H, Hartshorn GS (eds) La Selva: ecology and natural history of a Neotropical rain forest. Univ Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 350–378.
Wilson EO (ed) (1988) Biodiversity. Natl Acad Press, Washington DC.
Woods P (1989) Effects of logging, drought, and fire on structure and composition of tropical forests in Sabah, Malaysia. Biotropica 21:290–298.
Yih K, Boucher DH, Vandermeer JH, Zamora N (1991) Recovery of rain forest of southeastern Nicaragua after destruction by Hurricane Joan. Biotropica 23:106–113.
Young KR, Ewel JJ, Brown BJ (1987) Seed dynamics during forest succession in Costa Rica. Vegetatio 71:157–173.
Young TP, Hubbell SA (1991) Crown asymmetry, treefalls, and repeat disturbance of broadleaved forest gaps. Ecology 72:1464–1471.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Denslow, J.S. (1996). Functional Group Diversity and Responses to Disturbance. In: Orians, G.H., Dirzo, R., Cushman, J.H. (eds) Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processes in Tropical Forests. Ecological Studies, vol 122. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79755-2_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79755-2_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-79757-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-79755-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive