Traits and functional strategies as predictors of demographic variations over a chronosequence

• Published in: Revista brasileira de botânica Vol. 40; no. 3; pp. 761 - 770
• Main Authors: Silva, Maria Amanda Menezes, Pinto, Andréa de Vasconcelos Freitas, do Nascimento, Ladivania Medeiros, Lins-e-Silva, Ana Carolina Borges, de Lima, André Luiz Alves, Sampaio, Everardo Valadares de Sá Barretto, Rodal, Maria Jesus Nogueira
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.09.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Botany; Chlorophyll; Demographics; Demography; Dry matter; Forests; Fragments; Growth rate; Leaf area; Leaves; Life Sciences; Mortality; Original Article; Phosphorus; Plant communities; Plant populations; Plant Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography; Predictions; Recruitment; Species; Tradeoffs; Tropical forests; Wood; Rules of assembly; Wood density; Environmental gradient; Seed shape; Fitness
• ISSN: 0100-8404; 1806-9959
• DOI: 10.1007/s40415-017-0389-9

Traits and functional strategies when related to demographic rates provide important information about the distribution of species and their performance in different environments. Therefore, predictions were made that: (1) plant communities in tropical forests, distributed over a chronosequence, have different trade-offs between demographic rates and functional traits due to variations in light availability and (2) acquisitive, intermediate and conservative species have different demographic rates throughout the chronosequence. To test these predictions, data from eight functional traits (maximum plant height; specific leaf area; leaf dry matter content; leaf nitrogen, phosphorus and chlorophyll concentrations; wood density; and seed shape) were collected from 64 tree species, distributed in six secondary (three 17 and three 25 years old) and three mature (>40 years old) Ombrophilous Dense Forest fragments. Demographic rates (mortality, recruitment and growth) of the species were determined for periods of three and five years, in each forest. Mortality was higher and growth rate was lower in the 17-year-old than in the mature forest, and the acquisitive group had the highest recruiting rate, but interactions were not significant. Thus, the majority of relationships between demographic rates and functional traits did not correspond to the predictions, as some traits were not better predictors of the demography of species in a determined forest than others and that these relationships did not vary across the chronosequence. Therefore, the trade-offs between functional and demographic characteristics are related to the species and not to environmental differences across the age gradient, and when the species are separated into groups, the predicted changes in demography are valid across the gradient.