Surviving in the shadows: Light responses of co-occurring Rubiaceae species within a tropical forest understory

Torres‐Leite, Filipe; Cavatte, Paulo Cezar; Garbin, Mário Luís; Hollunder, Renan Köpp; Ferreira-Santos, Karina; Capetine, Thales Braga; Soares, Bethina Stein; Carrijo, Tatiana Tavares

doi:10.1016/j.flora.2019.151487

Cited by 10 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Three topographical habits were defined: valley, slope and ridge. Forest cover, soil fertility, moisture and stem diameter at breast height are greater in valleys than on slopes and ridges (Torres‐Leite et al, 2019; Hollunder et al, 2021).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sedio et al (2012) studied the phylogenetic and functional relationships of 20 species of the genus Psychotria (Rubiaceae) in Panama and showed that species characteristics determined the distributions of species according to light and water availability. Torres‐Leite et al (2019) showed that species of the family Rubiaceae can survive under very low light levels in the understorey of a Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Nevertheless, species in different topographic habitats differ in their photosynthetic performance and leaf traits (Méndez‐Toribio et al, 2017; Torres‐Leite et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Brazil, it includes 128 genera and 1,416 species, of which 707 are endemic (Flora and Funga do Brazil, 2018). Moreover, these species are locally aggregated at small spatial scales (Sakai & Wright, 2008; Mesquita‐Neto et al, 2015; Torres‐Leite et al, 2018, 2019). Therefore, Rubiaceae is an important model for better understanding coexistence patterns between species in highly diverse tropical systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is there a species swarm paradox? Spatial segregation of related species in the understorey of a tropical plant community

Ferreira-Santos

Carrijo

Torres‐Leite

et al. 2023

J Vegetation Science

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Question Individual plants of some highly diverse angiosperm families occur in aggregated spatial patterns in tropical plant communities, which have been defined as species swarms. Although this spatial aggregation seems paradoxical, because related species should segregate in space owing to expected ecological similarities, it has yet to be tested. We assessed whether species of the family Rubiaceae segregate in space in the understorey of a tropical plant community. Location An Atlantic Forest fragment in southeast Brazil. Methods We surveyed all local aggregates of Rubiaceae species within an 18.75‐ha plot across a topographic gradient. Based on the species abundance distribution, we used the 10 most abundant species to model their spatial patterns using univariate and bivariate spline spatial correlations. Bubble graphs were used to show how these species were distributed across the gradient. Results A total of 12,258 individuals of 47 species were found distributed in 543 local aggregates. The 10 studied species corresponded to 86% of the total abundance and were aggregated in space, at distances from 0 to 10–300 m. Pairwise comparisons revealed a segregation pattern at scales ranging from 0 to 10–230 m. Local aggregates were strongly dominated by a single species, whereas many other species occurred at very low abundances. Conclusion The studied species of Rubiaceae shared the understorey environment by occupying different portions of available space. Habitat preferences, negative interactions, dispersal limitation and priority effects may explain the observed spatial patterns. Swarms are not paradoxical because species of Rubiaceae use different microhabitats within the forest understorey.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is there a species swarm paradox? Spatial segregation of related species in the understorey of a tropical plant community

Ferreira-Santos

Carrijo

Torres‐Leite

et al. 2023

J Vegetation Science

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“…For instance, P of tropical forest soil is positively correlated with growth rate and negatively related with mortality rate (Soong et al, 2020 ). Tropical plants in valleys may require larger amounts of leaf N to deal with the intense shading of forest understory (Torres‐Leite et al, 2019 ). Droughts can alter N and P cycles in ecosystems, either directly through changes in N mineralization and P sorption (Mariotte et al, 2017 ) or indirectly through changes in plant nutrient uptake and growth (Mariotte et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Abiotic Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional and local determinants of drought resilience in tropical forests

Hollunder

Garbin

Scarano

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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The increase in severity of droughts associated with greater mortality and reduced vegetation growth is one of the main threats to tropical forests. Drought resilience of tropical forests is affected by multiple biotic and abiotic factors varying at different scales. Identifying those factors can help understanding the resilience to ongoing and future climate change. Altitude leads to high climate variation and to different forest formations, principally moist or dry tropical forests with contrasted vegetation structure. Each tropical forest can show distinct responses to droughts. Locally, topography is also a key factor controlling biotic and abiotic factors related to drought resilience in each forest type. Here, we show that topography has key roles controlling biotic and abiotic factors in each forest type. The most important abiotic factors are soil nutrients, water availability, and microclimate. The most important biotic factors are leaf economic and hydraulic plant traits, and vegetation structure. Both dry tropical forests and ridges (steeper and drier habitats) are more sensitive to droughts than moist tropical forest and valleys (flatter and wetter habitats). The higher mortality in ridges suggests that conservative traits are not sufficient to protect plants from drought in drier steeper habitats. Our synthesis highlights that altitude and topography gradients are essential to understand mechanisms of tropical forest's resilience to future drought events. We described important factors related to drought resilience, however, many important knowledge gaps remain. Filling those gaps will help improve future practices and studies about mitigation capacity, conservation, and restoration of tropical ecosystems.

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“…It can be used as a critical indicator for breeding and identifying excellent varieties with high light efficiency and strong light resistance. However, studies on the response of plant photosynthesis to weak light conditions have predominately focused on crop plants (Li et al, 2020) and non-endangered species (Leite et al, 2019). Little is known about the responses of endangered species to weak light conditions, and the field should place greater emphasis on the scientific questions underlying the physiology of rare species such as H. hainanensis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light Intensity Influence on Growth and Photosynthetic Characteristics of Horsfieldia hainanensis

Wang

Chen²,

Du³

et al. 2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Due to both anthropogenic and natural causes, the number of Horsfieldia hainanensis has been decreasing each year in the Tongza Branch nursery (109.534 525°E, 18.763 516°N) of the Hainan Academy of Forestry, China. Consequently, the protection of H. hainanensis is urgent, as is that of most rare tree species. To develop a more comprehensive understanding of the H. hainanensis growth environment, we took 3-year-old H. hainanensis saplings as the research object. We controlled the light intensity by setting different shade amounts to explore the growth and photosynthetic characteristics of H. hainanensis under different light intensities. We found that shade can promote growth and increase the contents of certain substances. Light transmittance of 44.41% can increase plant height (by 29.545%) and biomass (by 66.676%). Light transmittance of 16.19% can increase the pigment content; Chl increased by 40.864%, Chl a increased by 38.031%, and Chl b increased by 48.412%. Light transmittance of 7.30% can increase the soil plant analysis development (SPAD) value of each part of the leaf; the leaf base increased by 41.000%, the leaf margin increased by 32.574%, the blade tip increased by 49.003%, and the leaf average increased by 40.466%. The specific leaf area can reduce the specific leaf weight. We also found that compared to full light, reducing the light transmittance can increase the total chlorophyll (Chl), chlorophyll A (Chl a), and chlorophyll B (Chl b) contents, and the Chl-SPAD-leaf base, leaf edge, leaf tip, average content, and light-saturated net photosynthetic rate. This can in turn reduce the apparent quantum efficiency (AQY), light compensation point (LCP), and dark respiration rate (Rd). In addition, we found a strong correlation between seven of the photosynthetic pigment indicators (Chl, Chla, Chl b, Chl-SPAD-leaf base, leaf margin, leaf tip, and mean) and the three photosynthesis physiological parameters (AQY, LCP, and Rd). The light transmittance of 44.41% (one layer of shading net) treatment group was conducive to the growth of H. hainanensis and photosynthetic characteristic improvement. Therefore, our light transmittance selection of approximately 44.4% is significant for the natural return of H. hainanensis.

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Surviving in the shadows: Light responses of co-occurring Rubiaceae species within a tropical forest understory

Cited by 10 publications

References 69 publications

Is there a species swarm paradox? Spatial segregation of related species in the understorey of a tropical plant community

Is there a species swarm paradox? Spatial segregation of related species in the understorey of a tropical plant community

Regional and local determinants of drought resilience in tropical forests

Light Intensity Influence on Growth and Photosynthetic Characteristics of Horsfieldia hainanensis

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