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Competitive dominance in a secondary successional rain-forest community in Borneo

Competitive interactions among pioneer species may have a significant impact on the course of secondary succession in tropical rain forests. We predicted that the outcome of competitive interactions in early succession would vary with soil nutrient availability. To test this hypothesis we grew sev...

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Main Authors: Davies, Stuart J., Hardy, Semui
Format: E-Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2006
Subjects:
GE Environmental Sciences
Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/16737/1/Competitive%20dominance%20in%20a%20secondary%20successional%20rain-forest%20community%20%28abstract%29.pdf
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/16737/
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-tropical-ecology
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spelling my.unimas.ir.167372017-06-21T07:00:07Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/16737/ Competitive dominance in a secondary successional rain-forest community in Borneo Davies, Stuart J. Hardy, Semui GE Environmental Sciences Competitive interactions among pioneer species may have a significant impact on the course of secondary succession in tropical rain forests. We predicted that the outcome of competitive interactions in early succession would vary with soil nutrient availability. To test this hypothesis we grew seven pioneer tree species alone and in dense competitive mixtures, with four nutrient treatments: no nutrient addition, and N, P, and N plus P addition. Performance of plants grown alone and in mixtures was strongly nutrient limited. However, contrary to expectation, the competitive hierarchy among the seven species was almost identical among the four nutrient treatments. The dominant species, Melastoma malabathricum, accounted for >70% of total stand biomass in all nutrient treatments. Seedlings of this species had higher rates of gas exchange and initial growth, and lower root allocation than the other species. Profiles of light availability within the competitive stands indicated that light levels at ground level were well above levels at which pioneer species can successfully survive and grow, yet seedlings of species other than Melastoma remained stunted. Leaf N concentrations in all stands were 25–55% reduced by competitive interactions, and N addition increased relative competitive performance in only Melastoma suggesting that Melastoma was particularly effective at N acquisition, limiting nutrient uptake by the other species. Toward the end of the experiment individuals of Melastoma began to reproduce, suggesting that the competitive hierarchy would have changed in a longer-duration experiment. Cambridge University Press 2006 E-Article PeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/16737/1/Competitive%20dominance%20in%20a%20secondary%20successional%20rain-forest%20community%20%28abstract%29.pdf Davies, Stuart J. and Hardy, Semui (2006) Competitive dominance in a secondary successional rain-forest community in Borneo. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 22. pp. 53-64. ISSN 0266-4674 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-tropical-ecology doi:10.1017/S0266467405002944
institution Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
building Centre for Academic Information Services (CAIS)
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
content_source UNIMAS Institutional Repository
url_provider http://ir.unimas.my/
language English
topic GE Environmental Sciences
spellingShingle GE Environmental Sciences
Davies, Stuart J.
Hardy, Semui
Competitive dominance in a secondary successional rain-forest community in Borneo
description Competitive interactions among pioneer species may have a significant impact on the course of secondary succession in tropical rain forests. We predicted that the outcome of competitive interactions in early succession would vary with soil nutrient availability. To test this hypothesis we grew seven pioneer tree species alone and in dense competitive mixtures, with four nutrient treatments: no nutrient addition, and N, P, and N plus P addition. Performance of plants grown alone and in mixtures was strongly nutrient limited. However, contrary to expectation, the competitive hierarchy among the seven species was almost identical among the four nutrient treatments. The dominant species, Melastoma malabathricum, accounted for >70% of total stand biomass in all nutrient treatments. Seedlings of this species had higher rates of gas exchange and initial growth, and lower root allocation than the other species. Profiles of light availability within the competitive stands indicated that light levels at ground level were well above levels at which pioneer species can successfully survive and grow, yet seedlings of species other than Melastoma remained stunted. Leaf N concentrations in all stands were 25–55% reduced by competitive interactions, and N addition increased relative competitive performance in only Melastoma suggesting that Melastoma was particularly effective at N acquisition, limiting nutrient uptake by the other species. Toward the end of the experiment individuals of Melastoma began to reproduce, suggesting that the competitive hierarchy would have changed in a longer-duration experiment.
format E-Article
author Davies, Stuart J.
Hardy, Semui
author_facet Davies, Stuart J.
Hardy, Semui
author_sort Davies, Stuart J.
title Competitive dominance in a secondary successional rain-forest community in Borneo
title_short Competitive dominance in a secondary successional rain-forest community in Borneo
title_full Competitive dominance in a secondary successional rain-forest community in Borneo
title_fullStr Competitive dominance in a secondary successional rain-forest community in Borneo
title_full_unstemmed Competitive dominance in a secondary successional rain-forest community in Borneo
title_sort competitive dominance in a secondary successional rain-forest community in borneo
publisher Cambridge University Press
publishDate 2006
url http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/16737/1/Competitive%20dominance%20in%20a%20secondary%20successional%20rain-forest%20community%20%28abstract%29.pdf
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/16737/
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-tropical-ecology
_version_ 1644512440855035904
score 13.211869

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