Reproductive phenology of useful Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest trees: Guiding patterns for seed collection and plant propagation in nurseries

Abstract

The propagation in nurseries of native plant species potentially useful for agroforestry, silvopastoral and restoration programs is hindered by an inadequate supply of high quality seed. Limitations in our knowledge on the phenological patterns of native species result in the lack of efficient collecting protocols. Here we analyze the reproductive phenology of 14 native tree species from Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest (SDTF) that are widely used in reforestation and restoration programs. We conducted monthly observations during five years through a community-based monitoring program in two conservation areas within the Zicuirán-Infiernillo Biosphere Reserve (West Mexico) to assess the flowering and fruiting phenology of 149 marked trees (7-20 trees per species). For each species we described the phenophase intensity, duration, seasonality, synchrony and frequency. We related the intensity of reproductive phenology to climatic variables (photoperiod, precipitation and temperature). We identified three main phenological strategies of SDTF species that differ in timing and climatic triggers: (1) flowering and fruiting exclusively in the rainy season; (2) flowering in the rainy season and fruiting in the dry season; and (3) flowering and fruiting exclusively in the dry season. For each phenological strategy we make recommendations of optimal collecting seeds schedules. The community-based monitoring program, which involves the participation of local social actors, guaranteed the success of long-term phenological monitoring. Our study provides valuable information on both the inter-annual and inter-specific variation of the phenological patterns of tree species of forestry interest, and demonstrates that qualitative descriptions of population-level phenological attributes is an essential input to develop adaptive management programs.

Influência climática e sazonalidade da fenologia reprodutiva de Qualea parviflora Mart. (Vochysiaceae) em cerradão

“…Entretanto, como já mencionado neste estudo, o ciclo fenológico das espécies do cerrado pode apresentar variações de acordo com a região e as condições climáticas de cada local (Piña-Rodrigues & Piratelli 1993) já que neste estudo, a correlação foi significativa somente para botão floral e não antese. Além disso, não se trata da mesma fisionomia, é evidente que diferentes condições de habitat podem atuar diretamente no ciclo fenológico (Fuchs et al 2003;Luna-Nieves et al 2017) e fazer com que as correlações também sejam distintas.…”

Reproductive Phenology and Seed Germination in Eight Tree Species From a Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest of Morelos, Mexico: Implications for Community-Oriented Restoration and Conservation

“…10 cm, based on their abundances. Selected trees had a healthy appearance and were separated at least by a distance of 50 m to minimize genetic relatedness (Fournier & Charpantier, 1975;Luna-Nieves et al, 2017).…”

“…Regarding flowering length, G. ulmifolia stood out among the other study species due to its extended flowering period, which lasted since the first rains through most of the wet season (Figure 3e). Fruiting in most SDTF species is known to strongly concentrate in the dry season (Bullock & Solı´s-Magallanes, 1990;Lobo et al, 2003;Luna-Nieves et al, 2017;Singh & Kushwaha, 2006;Valdez-Herna´ndez, Lo´pez-Garcı´a, Delgado, & De Lourdes, 2010). We found a slightly different pattern, with two clearly distinct peaks of mature fruit production: one at the end of the rains and in the early dry season (B. bipinnata, B. copallifera, B. glabrifolia, and E. polystachya), and the other one in the mid-dry season (i.e., February-March; B. fagaroides, G. ulmifolia, L. esculenta, and L. macrophylla).…”

“…The recognition of fruiting patterns is strategic for making adequate decisions regarding seed collection and native species propagation (Kuaraksa, Elliott, & Hossaert-Mckey, 2012;Luna-Nieves et al, 2017).The phenological indices that we used provided valuable information to identify optimal seed collection periods in this region, which ultimately translates into substantial savings of time and money. We could identify two favorable seed collection periods (when the intensity of mature fruits was >50%, Figure 3): one between October and December and the second in February to March.…”

<b>Vegetative and reproductive phenology of <I>Aquilaria malaccensis</I> Lam. (Agarwood) in Cachar District, Assam, India</b>

“…Spearman rank correlations were performed to investigate correlations between monthly phenophase activity and environmental variables such as temperature and rainfall following (Zar 1984). The duration was classified as short (<2 months), intermediate (2-5 months), or extended (>5 months) based on the mean number of months in which the phenophase occurred (Luna-Nieves et al 2017). Circular statistical analyses were performed to determine whether the vegetative and reproductive phenophases were homogenously distributed throughout the year.…”