Trait interactions effects on tropical tree demography depend on the environmental context

Kamimura, Vitor de Andrade; Loiola, Priscilla de Paula; Carmona, Carlos P.; Assis, Marco Antônio; Joly, Carlos A.; Santos, Fábio Lúcio; Vieira, Simone Aparecida; Alves, Luciana F.; Martins, Valéria Forni; Ramos, Eliana; Ramos, Rafael; Bello, Francesco de

doi:10.1016/j.ppees.2023.125732

Cited by 2 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Likewise, identifying and exploring the trait coordination involved to achieve optimal growth outcomes in this ecosystem may help to improve predictions of the trait–growth link and the implication for forest conservation. Finally, analysis considering the influence of trait interactions on other aspects of fitness and demographic rates such as reproduction, survival, mortality, and recruitment (González‐M et al., 2021; Kamimura et al., 2023) is also necessary to better understand trait–performance relationships and may have important implications for the design of forest restoration and conservation programs under climate change scenarios.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To explore the relationship between traits and growth rates, we used a decision tree‐based machine learning approach (RF). This type of model allows us to account for potential nonlinear relationships as well as interactions among predictors, and has been successfully used to analyze similar questions (Pistón et al., 2019; Kamimura et al., 2023). We generated a set of models using mixed‐effect RF with the SAEforest package in R (R Core Team, R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, AT) (Krennmair, 2022), specifying the species as a random intercept and individual relative growth as the response variable.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To explore the relationship between traits and growth rates, we used a decision tree-based machine learning approach (RF). This type of model allows us to account for potential nonlinear relationships as well as interactions among predictors, and has been successfully used to analyze similar questions (Pistón et al, 2019;Kamimura et al, 2023).…”

Section: Statistical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Journal of Vegetation Science RODRÍGUEZ-ALARCÓN et al traits and plant performance is context-dependent (Kamimura et al, 2023) and model this relationship by pooling individuals growing in different environments, which can impede fully disentangling the trait-performance relationship (Yang et al, 2018).…”

Section: It Is Also Important To Consider How Individual Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…forest conservation. Finally, analysis considering the influence of trait interactions on other aspects of fitness and demographic rates such as reproduction, survival, mortality, and recruitment(González-M et al, 2021;Kamimura et al, 2023) is also necessary to better understand trait-performance relationships and may have important implications for the design of forest restoration and conservation programs under climate change scenarios. AUTH O R CO NTR I B UTI O N S CPC, SR-A, and ET conceived of the research idea; RG-M provided the database and support on the interpretation of the results; SR-A performed data cleanup and organization; ET and SR-A performed statistical analyses; SR-A wrote the manuscript with contributions from CPC and ET All authors provided input and rigorous feedback during the whole revision process.ACK N O WLE D G E M ENTSThe authors thank German Vargas for providing useful comments on the interpretation of results and feedback on the manuscript.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Trait–growth relationships in Colombian tropical dry forests: Incorporating intraspecific variation and trait interactions

Rodríguez‐Alarcón,

González‐M,

Carmona

et al. 2024

J Vegetation Science

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QuestionTrait‐based ecology is built on the notion that traits impact individual performance, but trait–growth relationships have rarely been tested considering the intraspecific variation, trait interactions, and potential nonlinearity in these relationships.LocationSeven tropical dry forests throughout Colombia.MethodsWe examined trait–growth relationships in 263 woody species of tropical dry forests in Colombia, including trait and growth information measured in the same individuals. We measured height, stem, and leaf traits related to growth and hydraulic safety–efficiency in 967 individuals in seven permanent plots (1 ha). We assessed trait–growth relationships using random forest models for each plot with different trait resolutions (individual, plot, area) and complexity of trait interactions (low, medium, high).ResultsTrait–growth relationships were generally weak without significant differences among trait resolutions or levels of interactions between traits. However, when considering leaf phenology, the proportion of growth variation explained in deciduous species was almost three times higher than in evergreen species. Finally, we found that the effect of traits on growth was consistent across plots and phenological strategies, with both stem (vessel area and pit diameter aperture) and leaf (leaf area and specific leaf area) traits ranked as important predictors, the relevance of which depended on the species’ leaf phenology.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that growth is probably limited by different factors depending on the species’ physiology according to the leaf habit considered. However, other factors not included in the analysis, such as microenvironmental variability, might influence trait–growth relationships in tropical dry forests. Overall, our results suggest that a trait coordination approach at the whole‐plant level is needed to better understand plants’ performance and demographic rates in this ecosystem. Further studies on the traits of regional flora and consideration of longer growth periods would help to elucidate the dynamics governing trait composition in these forests, which is essential for the design of adequate forest restoration and conservation practices.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%