Pre-dispersal seed predation (PDSP) is commonly observed in woody plants, and recognized as a driver of seed production variability that is critical for successful regeneration. Earlier studies on PDSP and its determinants were mostly species specific, with community-level PDSP rarely estimated; and the interactions between the temporal variability of seed production and PDSP remain elusive. In...

Disentangling the mechanisms that shape community assembly across diversity gradients is a central matter in ecology. While many studies have explored community assembly through species average trait values, there is a growing understanding that intraspecific trait variation (ITV) can also play a critical role in species coexistence. Classic biodiversity theory hypothesizes that higher diversit...

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of repeated dry season annual hot fires on woody plants in a semi-arid southern African savanna in Zimbabwe. Parts of the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) research fields in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe have been burnt annually in the dry season between 1994 and 2003 in order to control bush encroachment. The present study was...

F-box proteins are generally responsible for substrate recognition in the Skp1-Cullin-F-box complexes that are involved in protein degradation via the ubiquitin-26S proteasome pathway. In plants, F-box genes influence a variety of biological processes, such as leaf senescence, branching, self-incompatibility, and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. The number of F-box genes in Populus (Po...

Lianas are a key component of tropical forests; however, most surveys are too small to accurately quantify liana community composition, diversity, abundance, and spatial distribution - critical components for measuring the contribution of lianas to forest processes. In 2007, we tagged, mapped, measured the diameter, and identified all lianas ≥1 cm rooted in a 50-ha plot on Barro Colorado Island...

Determination of Spatial Pattern Woody Species using Point Analysis (Case Study: Chehel-tan Dehbakri Forest, Kerman Province)

Relative abundance of woody plants and their utilization by beavers (Castor canadensis) were measured on watersheds in Ashtabula and Columbiana Counties, Ohio, in 1966-67. A food index showed aspen (Populus sp.), alder (Alnus sp.), hop-hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), black cherry (Prunus serotina), willow (Salix sp.)> dogwood (Cornus sp.) and oak (Quercus sp.) to be major foods; 20 different wood...

Vast areas of the African savanna landscapes are characterized by tree-covered Macrotermes termite mounds embedded within a relatively open savanna matrix. In concert with termites, large herbivores are important determinants of savanna woody vegetation cover. The relative cover of woody species has considerable effects on savanna function. Despite the potentially important ecological relations...

Evergreen broadleaved forests in subtropical China contain a complicated structure of diverse species. The impact of topographic and soil factors on the assembly of woody species in the forest has been poorly understood. We used Ripley’s K(t) function to analyze the spatial patterns and associations of dominant species and residual analysis (RDA) to quantify the contribution of topography and s...

Angiosperm diversification has been associated with plant-animal interactions such as seed dispersal and pollination and life-history characters such as rapid growth and fast reproduction. This paper relates a life-history character (age at maturity) to woody angiosperm diversification. Here I present a comparative analysis of data drawn from the literature, indicating that time to first reprod...