Consequences of Variable Reproduction for Seedling Recruitment in Three Neotropical Tree Species

A k s r ~ n t r V'uiable ieed productron may have ~tnportant consequencei to1 rec ru i t~~te t~ t but I S poorly do~utnented f o ~ h~rgivore-drsperied ttoptcal ttees Recruttment lirn~t~ttton r aq ,tlso be a c ~ r t i c ~ t l spatl'tl ptoceii aftecttng forest dynamics. b ~ t t it I \ i a ~ e l y ,~i \esied at the scale of tndi\tdu6tl trees Over an I I-yr perrod, we studled the coniequenieb of va~table seed p~od~rc t lon tot inttlal seedlrng recrultment In three il~ade-toleiant tree ipectei, (Qutrra1 rberr acterolepr\, Tell agactrrs parranzer~srs, and Tr rc lzrlru t ~ 1 i ~ t ~ t c r ~ l ~ l t ~ i ) ct11 Bai ro Colorado Iiland, Panama We me<lsuted annual seed productron tor a petniancilt idmple of tocal tree5 and ceniused annual new seedling eitdblishment within a restrtcted dtspets'tl nerghborhood ctf each tree We c ~ ~ ~ c ~ l y z e d tempotal and spatial v a r r ~ t b ~ l ~ t y In lecrurtment and cotnpaied t e c ~ u i t n ~ e n t limttatrons among ipecres Annual ieed productrotl rn Quntarrbca and Tetruqartrrc fluctuated wrdely. whereai Ttrclzzlza had mole constitent ieed production acrois years Wtthln ipezres, trees were iynchronl/ed In ieed production, and synchtony appeared partly tnfluenced by El Nrfio cllrnatrc events Seedltng ~eclurtment varied temporally and spattally 4 t the populat~on icale, all speclei had greatei lecruttrnent In producttve heed y e a ~ s , and tndtvldual trees had dttferrng contr~butlons to t h ~ s temporal pattern At the foc'tl-t~ee icale, recruttmellt p'ltterns d l i t e ~ e d among ipectes Qtrarntrbca and Tetmgurtrrt tree\ with htghet average seed pioductron recrutted more seedlings In thetr local neighborhoods than d ~ d less tecuncl trees In contrait. Tr-rc hrlru ieedltng lecruttrnent d ~ d not tncredie with ieed crop s1Le, suggesting negatrve denitty dependence At the tree neighborhood sc'tle, no spectes showed evldence of density dependence III firit-year surv~val Comparat~vely, recrurtment wai more seedlimited in Quararrhea and Tettcrgilctrr, and more e\tablishment-lrm~ted in Trrchrlrn Overall, our reiults rndi~ated that (1) varl'tble seed productron znfluenced seedltng leclultrnent both tcntporally and spatlaliy. and 12) ipecle? dlffered rn I~m~ta t rons to recruttment Key ~sorn's: Br1n.o Colornr/o I.slrtrld, Pancirnrr: clerzsity depe17derzc.e; Quararibea asterolepis: rec.i-iritj~lr,nr iirnirldfict~z; .reed pr-orhrfion: scc~r//irf~ (irtno,grii/~/zy; Tetl-agastris panamensis: 'Trichilia tuberculata; rropic.irl free dert~ogrirphy.