Are lianas increasing in importance in tropical forest? A 17-year record from Panama

The relative importance of large lianas (woody vines) increased by 100%for stem enumerations conducted during the 1980s and 1990s in widely scattered Neo-tropical forests. We use three independent types of data to evaluate the hypothesis that lianas have increased in importance in old growth forests on Barro Colorado Island, Panama.Liana leaf litter production and the proportion of forest-wide leaf litter composed of lianas increased between 1986 and 2002. In contrast, liana seed production and liana seedling densities were much more variable through time with particularly high levels during and immediately after El Nin ̃ o years. Longer time series will be required to detect shifts in life-form composition for highly dynamic seed and seedling communities. The Barro ColoradoIsland leaf production data are, however, consistent with the hypothesis that lianas are increasing in importance in Neotropical forests.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	132234 Wright, S. Joseph Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panamá, 52867 Calderón, Osvaldo (autor/a) Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama, 77162 Hernandéz, Andrés (autor/a) Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama, 103667 Paton, Steven (autor/a) Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama
Format:	Texto biblioteca
Language:	spa
Published:	Ecology 2004
Subjects:	LANDOLPHIA, BOSQUE TROPICAL, PROPAGACION DE PLANTAS, PLANTULAS, HOJARASCA, BIOMASA, CRECIMIENTO, ESTIMACION, ECUACIONES ALOMETRICAS, SEMILLAS,
Online Access:	https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1890/02-0757
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