The negative effect of lianas on tree growth varies with tree species and season

Venegas‐González, Alejandro; Mello, Felipe N. A.; Schnitzer, Stefan A.; César, Ricardo G.; Filho, Mário Tomazello

doi:10.1111/btp.12796

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(78 reference statements)

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“…They found that seedling recruitment of the shade-tolerant species Dipteryx oleifera was greater in the liana removal treatment compared to the tree biomass treatment, but only during the dry season. In a separate study, the removal of tree saplings during the wet season had a stronger effect on recruitment compared to the removal of an equal mass of lianas (Venegas-González et al, 2020). Therefore, the liana effect on tree seedling recruitment may vary seasonally and across tree species.…”

Section: Effects Of Lianas On Tree Recruitment and Water Statusmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…In other words, lianas likely have a stronger detrimental effect on trees in areas where they are more abundant, assuming that their effect on trees scales with their abundance. Given that there are now 16 studies indicating that liana density, productivity, and biomass are all increasing relative to trees in tropical forests (Pandian and Parthasarathy, 2016;Ceballos and Malizia, 2017;Hogan et al, 2017;Venegas-González et al, 2020;Schnitzer et al, 2021), it is paramount to determine the magnitude at which lianas reduce tree performance and forest biomass, and how these effects change along important environmental gradients.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lianas Significantly Reduce Tree Performance and Biomass Accumulation Across Tropical Forests: A Global Meta-Analysis

Estrada‐Villegas

Narvaez

Sánchez

et al. 2022

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Lianas are a quintessential tropical plant growth-form; they are speciose and abundant in tropical forests worldwide. Lianas compete intensely with trees, reducing nearly all aspects of tree performance. However, the negative effects of lianas on trees have never been combined and quantified for multiple tropical forests. Here, we present the first comprehensive standardized quantification of the effect of lianas on trees across tropical forests worldwide. We used data from 50 liana removal experiments and quantified the effect size of lianas on tree growth, biomass accretion, reproduction, mortality, leaf water potential, sap flow velocity, and leaf area index (LAI) across different forest types. Using a three-level mixed-effect meta-analysis, we found unequivocal evidence that lianas significantly reduce tree growth and biomass accretion in ecological, logging, and silvicultural studies. Lianas also significantly reduce tree reproduction, recruitment, and physiological performance. The relative detrimental effect of lianas on trees does not increase in drier forests, where lianas tend to be more abundant. Our results highlight the substantial liana-induced reduction in tree performance and biomass accumulation, and they provide quantitative data on the effects of lianas on trees that are essential for large-scale plant demographic and ecosystem models that predict forest change and carbon dynamics.

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Section: Effects Of Lianas On Tree Recruitment and Water Statusmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lianas Significantly Reduce Tree Performance and Biomass Accumulation Across Tropical Forests: A Global Meta-Analysis

Estrada‐Villegas

Narvaez

Sánchez

et al. 2022

Front. For. Glob. Change

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“…Lianas climb their host trees to reach the high light environment at the top of the forest's canopy [15]. Numerous experimental studies have shown strong negative effects of lianas on many aspects of tree performance, including growth, survival, and reproduction [17][18][19][20][21]. Furthermore, lianas and trees appear to diverge in patterns of growth and abundance, with lianas having higher diametric growth during dry seasons and higher abundance in more seasonal forests [22,23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Functional Traits Explain Plant Coexistence? A Case Study with Tropical Lianas and Trees

et al. 2020

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Organisms are adapted to their environment through a suite of anatomical, morphological, and physiological traits. These functional traits are commonly thought to determine an organism’s tolerance to environmental conditions. However, the differences in functional traits among co-occurring species, and whether trait differences mediate competition and coexistence is still poorly understood. Here we review studies comparing functional traits in two co-occurring tropical woody plant guilds, lianas and trees, to understand whether competing plant guilds differ in functional traits and how these differences may help to explain tropical woody plant coexistence. We examined 36 separate studies that compared a total of 140 different functional traits of co-occurring lianas and trees. We conducted a meta-analysis for ten of these functional traits, those that were present in at least five studies. We found that the mean trait value between lianas and trees differed significantly in four of the ten functional traits. Lianas differed from trees mainly in functional traits related to a faster resource acquisition life history strategy. However, the lack of difference in the remaining six functional traits indicates that lianas are not restricted to the fast end of the plant life–history continuum. Differences in functional traits between lianas and trees suggest these plant guilds may coexist in tropical forests by specializing in different life–history strategies, but there is still a significant overlap in the life–history strategies between these two competing guilds.

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“…Marshall et al (2017) noted that, across continents, tree growth after climber removal was enhanced by between 41% and 122% compared to control forest, but there is conflicting evidence regarding whether the outcome of climber removal on tree growth and carbon sequestration are influenced by region and climate. For example, two studies in SE Asia and Central America conclude that efficacy of cutting varies with total annual rainfall and between wet and dry seasons, while other studies find similar efficacy in wet and dry seasons (Álvarez‐Cansino et al, 2015; O’Brien et al, 2019; van der Heijden et al, 2019; Venegas‐Gonzalez et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Removing climbers more than doubles tree growth and biomass in degraded tropical forests

Finlayson

Roopsind

Griscom

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Huge areas of tropical forests are degraded, reducing their biodiversity, carbon, and timber value. The recovery of these degraded forests can be significantly inhibited by climbing plants such as lianas. Removal of super‐abundant climbers thus represents a restoration action with huge potential for application across the tropics. While experimental studies largely report positive impacts of climber removal on tree growth and biomass accumulation, the efficacy of climber removal varies widely, with high uncertainty as to where and how to apply the technique. Using meta‐analytic techniques, we synthesize results from 26 studies to quantify the efficacy of climber removal for promoting tree growth and biomass accumulation. We find that climber removal increases tree growth by 156% and biomass accumulation by 209% compared to untreated forest, and that efficacy remains for at least 19 years. Extrapolating from these results, climber removal could sequester an additional 32 Gigatons of CO2 over 10 years, at low cost, across regrowth, and production forests. Our analysis also revealed that climber removal studies are concentrated in the Neotropics (N = 22), relative to Africa (N = 2) and Asia (N = 2), preventing our study from assessing the influence of region on removal efficacy. While we found some evidence that enhancement of tree growth and AGB accumulation varies across disturbance context and removal method, but not across climate, the number and geographical distribution of studies limits the strength of these conclusions. Climber removal could contribute significantly to reducing global carbon emissions and enhancing the timber and biomass stocks of degraded forests, ultimately protecting them from conversion. However, we urgently need to assess the efficacy of removal outside the Neotropics, and consider the potential negative consequences of climber removal under drought conditions and for biodiversity.

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The negative effect of lianas on tree growth varies with tree species and season

Cited by 13 publications

References 48 publications

Lianas Significantly Reduce Tree Performance and Biomass Accumulation Across Tropical Forests: A Global Meta-Analysis

Lianas Significantly Reduce Tree Performance and Biomass Accumulation Across Tropical Forests: A Global Meta-Analysis

Can Functional Traits Explain Plant Coexistence? A Case Study with Tropical Lianas and Trees

Removing climbers more than doubles tree growth and biomass in degraded tropical forests

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