Increasing turnover through time in tropical forests.

Selective logging: do rates of forest turnover in stems, species composition and functional traits decrease with time since disturbance? - A 45 year perspective.

Selective logging, the targeted harvesting of timber trees in a single cutting cycle, is globally rising in extent and intensity. Short-term impacts of selective logging on tropical forests have been widely investigated, but long-term effects on temporal dynamics of forest structure and composition are largely unknown. Understanding these long-term dynamics will help determine whether tropical ...

Increasing liana abundance and biomass in tropical forests: emerging patterns and putative mechanisms.

Tropical forests are experiencing large-scale structural changes, the most apparent of which may be the increase in liana (woody vine) abundance and biomass. Lianas permeate most lowland tropical forests, where they can have a huge effect on tree diversity, recruitment, growth and survival, which, in turn, can alter tree community composition, carbon storage and carbon, nutrient and water fluxe...

REV I EW AND SYNTHES I S Increasing liana abundance and biomass in tropical forests: emerging patterns and putative mechanisms

Stefan A. Schnitzer* and Frans Bongers University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Department of Biological Sciences, PO Box 413, 53201, USA Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama Wageningen University, Centre for Ecosystem Studies, PO Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands *Correspondence: E-mail: [email protected] Abstract Tropical...

Evaluating turnover in tropical forests.

Woody lianas increase in dominance and maintain compositional integrity across an Amazonian dam-induced fragmented landscape

Tropical forest fragmentation creates insular biological communities that undergo species loss and changes in community composition over time, due to area- and edge-effects. Woody lianas thrive in degraded and secondary forests, due to their competitive advantage over trees in these habitats. Lianas compete both directly and indirectly with trees, increasing tree mortality and turnover. Despite...