Tropical biodiversity and associated ecosystem functions have become heavily eroded through habitat loss. Animal-mediated pollination is required in more than 94% of higher tropical plant species and 75% of the world's leading food crops, but it remains unclear if corridors avert deforestation-driven pollination breakdown in fragmented tropical landscapes. Here, we used manipulative resource ex...

Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is the largest natural source of exogenous nitrogen (N) to unmanaged ecosystems and also the primary baseline against which anthropogenic changes to the N cycle are measured. Rates of BNF in tropical rainforest are thought to be among the highest on Earth, but they are notoriously difficult to quantify and are based on little empirical data. We adapted a sampl...

Landscape fragmentation creates an increasingly complex environment in which to manage forests in the United States. The effects of fragmentation on productivity, mortality, and decomposition in forests vary with fragment size, forest type, and climate. Fragmentation can affect fuel accumulation, increase the spatial variability of fuel loads, and affect the susceptibility of forests to fire. D...

The relationship between phenology and tree stem diameter increment is largely unexplored in tropical species, especially in wet tropical forests. To explore links between these phenomena, we measured stem diameter increment and phenology of ten canopy tree species from a range of functional types in the Atlantic lowlands of Costa Rica to test for seasonal and interannual patterns. We measured ...

Abstract Tropical forests are characterized by vast biomass, complex structures and mega-biodiversity. However, the adaptation processes of these to seasonal water availability less understood, especially those located in monsoonal mountainous regions tropical Southeast Asia. This study used four representative spanning from 2° N 22° continental Asia address dry-condition photosynthesis at scal...

The mam plant communities of ultramafic (serpentine) outcrops of a Mediterranean area in central Italy are described and their successional pathway discussed. Four vegetation stages are distinguished: a) an endemic garigue stage, with high percentage of exposed rocky soil belonging to Armerio-Alyssetum bertolonii; b) a garigue stage similar to the previous one but with several Mediterranean eve...

Huge areas of diverse tropical forest are lost or degraded every year with dramatic consequences for biodiversity. Deforestation and fragmentation, over-exploitation, invasive species and climate change are the main drivers of tropical forest biodiversity loss. Most studies investigating these threats have focused on changes in species richness or species diversity. However, if we are to unders...

The principal objective of this study was to determine if there is consistent temporal variability in soil respiration from different forest plantations in a lowland tropical rainforest environment. Soil respiration was measured regularly over 2004 to 2010 in replicated plantations of 15to 20-year-old evergreen tropical trees in lowland Costa Rica. Statistically significant but small difference...

A quantitative ecological study was conducted in evergreen forests of Kolli hills, Tamil Nadu. A 10 ha forest dynamics plot was laid in intact evergreen forests. The 10 ha study plot divided in to 250 25m×25m workable elementary plots. All trees ≥10cm diameter at breast height were measured at 137 cm from above the ground, tagged with consecutively numbered aluminium tags. All recorded individu...

Twenty species of oak (Quercus) are known from California. The white oak group is the most diverse, and includes a complex of scrub oak species that are often encountered in chaparral, mixed forest and desert margin habitats. The Protobalanus group (e.g., Quercus chrysolepis) is a unique and distinctive clade of western North American species that appears to be most closely related to the white...