Effects of light and nutrients on seedlings of tropical Bauhinia lianas and trees.

Lianas differ from trees in many life history characteristics, and we predicted that they are phenotypically more responsive to environmental variation than trees. We analyzed responsiveness to light and nutrient availability of five Bauhinia species (three lianas and two trees). Seedlings were grown in a shade house in two light regimes (5 and 25% of full sunlight) and two nutrient supply regimes (field soil and N fertilization equivalent to 100 kg ha(-1)), and important growth-related physiological and morphological plant parameters were measured. Light availability affected most of the measured variables, whereas N addition had only weak effects. In the four light-demanding species (two lianas and two trees), relative plant biomass growth rate increased and specific leaf area (SLA) decreased with increased light availability, whereas a shade-tolerant liana did not respond. Leaf N concentration and light-saturated photosynthetic rate per unit leaf area increased in response to increased irradiance or soil N in the light-demanding tree species and the shade-tolerant liana, but not in the two light-demanding lianas. The light-demanding lianas also had higher SLA and leaf mass ratio, resulting in a higher leaf area ratio (LAR) in high light, whereas the light-demanding trees did not. Across all treatments, mean plasticity indices of physiological and morphological traits, and all traits combined were similar among the studied species. Plasticity was higher in response to light than to N, indicating that light is the main factor controlling seedling responses of the studied species. Although lianas and trees did not differ in mean plasticity in response to light and N, the light-demanding lianas were phenotypically less plastic in LAR and in photosynthetic rates and biomass allocation than the trees. Light and N interacted in their effects on most physiological variables, but the consequences for relative growth rate differed little among species. We conclude that, contrary to our predictions, lianas were no more responsive to variation in light and N availability than trees.

[1]  F. Bongers,et al.  Seedling growth strategies in Bauhinia species: comparing lianas and trees. , 2007, Annals of botany.

[2]  H. Tuomisto,et al.  Congruence between floristic patterns of trees and lianas in a southwest Amazonian rain forest , 2007 .

[3]  F. Bongers,et al.  Seasonal changes in photosynthesis and growth of Zizyphus attopensis seedlings in three contrasting microhabitats in a tropical seasonal rain forest. , 2007, Tree physiology.

[4]  E. Tanner,et al.  Trenching increased growth, and irrigation increased survival of tree seedlings in the understorey of a semi-evergreen rain forest in Panama , 2007, Journal of Tropical Ecology.

[5]  F. Bongers,et al.  Light-dependent leaf trait variation in 43 tropical dry forest tree species. , 2007, American journal of botany.

[6]  Ü. Niinemets,et al.  Structural and physiological plasticity in response to light and nutrients in five temperate deciduous woody species of contrasting shade tolerance , 2007 .

[7]  Stephen P. Hubbell,et al.  Soil nutrients influence spatial distributions of tropical tree species , 2007, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[8]  M. Werger,et al.  Above-ground biomass investments and light interception of tropical forest trees and lianas early in succession. , 2007, Annals of botany.

[9]  Ü. Niinemets,et al.  Tolerance to shade, drought, and waterlogging of temperate northern hemisphere trees and shrubs , 2006 .

[10]  Fernando Valladares,et al.  Quantitative estimation of phenotypic plasticity: bridging the gap between the evolutionary concept and its ecological applications , 2006 .

[11]  Frans Bongers,et al.  Leaf traits are good predictors of plant performance across 53 rain forest species. , 2006, Ecology.

[12]  L. Poorter,et al.  Plasticity in leaf traits of 38 tropical tree species in response to light; relationships with light demand and adult stature. , 2006 .

[13]  R. Mittler,et al.  Abiotic stress, the field environment and stress combination. , 2006, Trends in plant science.

[14]  S. Matezki,et al.  Nutritional differences and leaf acclimation of climbing plants and the associated vegetation in different types of an Andean montane rainforest , 2006, Oecologia.

[15]  F. Bongers,et al.  Photosynthetic acclimation to light changes in tropical monsoon forest woody species differing in adult stature. , 2005, Tree physiology.

[16]  S. Schnitzer.  A Mechanistic Explanation for Global Patterns of Liana Abundance and Distribution , 2005, The American Naturalist.

[17]  Seedling response to gaps: separating effects of light and nitrogen , 2004 .

[18]  Ü. Niinemets,et al.  Photosynthetic acclimation to simultaneous and interacting environmental stresses along natural light gradients: optimality and constraints. , 2004, Plant biology.

[19]  J. Chave,et al.  Structure and Biomass of Four Lowland Neotropical Forests , 2004 .

[20]  Bettina M. J. Engelbrecht,et al.  The effect of nutrient enrichment on growth, photosynthesis and hydraulic conductance of dwarf mangroves in Panamá , 2004 .

[21]  Thomas J. Givnish,et al.  Ecological constraints on the evolution of plasticity in plants , 2002, Evolutionary Ecology.

[22]  H. Lambers,et al.  Interaction of nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition in determining growth , 2004, Plant and Soil.

[23]  Kaoru Kitajima,et al.  Cloud cover limits net CO2 uptake and growth of a rainforest tree during tropical rainy seasons , 2003, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[24]  L. Poorter.  Resource capture and use by tropical forest tree seedlings and their consequences for competition , 2003 .

[25]  Frans Bongers,et al.  The ecology of lianas and their role in forests , 2002 .

[26]  D. Metcalfe,et al.  Soil dilution as a surrogate for root competition: effects on growth of seedlings of Australian tropical rainforest trees , 2002 .

[27]  Walter P. Carson,et al.  The impact of lianas on tree regeneration in tropical forest canopy gaps: evidence for an alternative pathway of gap‐phase regeneration , 2000 .

[28]  Hendrik Poorter,et al.  The role of biomass allocation in the growth response of plants to different levels of light, CO2, nutrients and water: a quantitative review , 2000 .

[29]  D. Coomes,et al.  IMPACTS OF ROOT COMPETITION IN FORESTS AND WOODLANDS: A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND REVIEW OF EXPERIMENTS , 2000 .

[30]  Lourens Poorter,et al.  Growth responses of 15 rain‐forest tree species to a light gradient: the relative importance of morphological and physiological traits , 1999 .

[31]  William G. Lee,et al.  INTERACTION OF IRRADIANCE AND SOIL NUTRIENT SUPPLY ON GROWTH OF SEEDLINGS OF TEN EUROPEAN TALL-SHRUB SPECIES AND FAGUS SYLVATICA , 1996 .

[32]  E. Veenendaal,et al.  Responses of West African Forest Tree Seedlings to Irradiance and Soil Fertility , 1996 .

[33]  Christopher J. Lortie,et al.  The Specialization Hypothesis for Phenotypic Plasticity in Plants , 1996, International Journal of Plant Sciences.

[34]  W. T. Lawrence,et al.  RESPONSES OF TROPICAL PLANTS TO NUTRIENTS AND LIGHT ON A LANDSLIDE IN PUERTO RICO , 1996 .

[35]  E. Rincón,et al.  Nutrient availability and growth rate of 34 woody species from a tropical deciduous forest in Mexico , 1995 .

[36]  D. Raaimakers.  Growth of tropical rain forest trees as dependent on phosphorus supply: tree saplings differing in regeneration strategy and their adaptations to a low phosphorus environment in Guyana. , 1994 .

[37]  F. Bazzaz,et al.  13 – Coping with Environmental Heterogeneity: The Physiological Ecology of Tree Seedling Regeneration across the Gap—Understory Continuum , 1994 .

[38]  S. Woodin,et al.  Effects of increased nitrogen and phosphorus availability on the photosynthesis and nutrient relations of three arctic dwarf shrubs from Svalbard , 1994 .

[39]  D. Sims,et al.  5 – Photosynthetic Acclimation to Changing Light Environments: Scaling from the Leaf to the Whole Plant , 1994 .

[40]  W. Bond,et al.  Factors limiting climber distribution and abundance in a southern African forest , 1993 .

[41]  R. Latham.  Co‐Occurring Tree Species Change Rank in Seedling Performance with Resources Varied Experimentally , 1992 .

[42]  D. Sims,et al.  Response of leaf anatomy and photosynthetic capacity in Alocasia macrorrhiza (Araceae) to a transfer from low to high light. , 1992 .

[43]  M. Werger,et al.  Gap-dependence and leaf characteristics of trees in a tropical lowland rain forest in Mexico. , 1992 .

[44]  A. Teramura,et al.  The Biology of Vines : Physiological ecology of mesic, temperate woody vines , 1992 .

[45]  F. Bongers,et al.  Acclimation of seedlings of three Mexican tropical rain forest tree species to a change in light availability , 1991, Journal of Tropical Ecology.

[46]  P. Vitousek,et al.  GROWTH RESPONSES OF TROPICAL SHRUBS TO TREEFALL GAP ENVIRONMENTS , 1990 .

[47]  Harold A. Mooney,et al.  Biology of vines , 1989 .

[48]  Thomas J. Givnish,et al.  On the economy of plant form and function. , 1988 .

[49]  J. Felsenstein.  CONFIDENCE LIMITS ON PHYLOGENIES: AN APPROACH USING THE BOOTSTRAP , 1985, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[50]  F. Putz.  The natural history of lianas on Barro Colorado Island, Panama , 1984 .

[51]  G. Farquhar,et al.  Isotopic Composition of Plant Carbon Correlates With Water-Use Efficiency of Wheat Genotypes , 1984 .

[52]  F. Bazzaz.  The Physiological Ecology of Plant Succession , 1979 .

[53]  Roderick Hunt,et al.  Relative growth-rate: its range and adaptive significance in a local flora. , 1975 .