This study investigated seasonal patterns in stoichiometric ratios, nutrient resorption characteristics, and nutrient use strategies of dominant tree species at three successional stages in subtropical China, which have not been fully understood. Fresh leaf and leaf litterfall samples were collected in growing and nongrowing seasons for determining the concentrations of carbon (C), nitrogen (N)...

To gain insight into the ecological processes driving community reassembly in disturbed ecosystems, we assessed the phylogenetic dispersion of earlyand late-successional tree species occurring in lowland forests of northeastern Costa Rica. Early-successional species were more closely related than expected by chance, whereas late-successional species tended to be less closely related than expect...

In many temperate terrestrial forest ecosystems, both natural human disturbances drive the reestablishment of forests. Succession in plant communities, in addition to reforestation following the creation of open sites through harvesting or natural disturbances, can affect forest faunal assemblages. Wild bees perform an important ecosystem function in human-altered and natural or seminatural eco...

The effects of habitat fragmentation on diverse tropical tree communities are poorly understood. Over a 20-year period we monitored the density of 52 tree species in nine predominantly successional genera (Annona, Bellucia, Cecropia, Croton, Goupia, Jacaranda, Miconia, Pourouma, Vismia) in fragmented and continuous Amazonian forests. We also evaluated the relative importance of soil, topographi...

Forest succession is a fundamental ecological process which can impact the functioning of many terrestrial processes, such as water and nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration. Therefore, knowing the distribution of forest successional stages over a landscape facilitates a greater understanding of terrestrial ecosystems. One way of characterizing forest succession over the landscape is to use...

Directional replacement and directional non-replacement models are two alternative paradigms for community development in primary successional environments. The first model emphasizes turnover in species between early and late successional niches. The second emphasizes accumulation of additional diversity over time. To test whether the development of soil fungal communities in the foreland of a...

Standing dead biomass retention is considered one of the most relevant fuel structural traits to affect plant flammability. However, very little is known about the biological significance of this trait and its distribution between different functional groups. Our aim was to analyse how the proportion of dead biomass produced in Mediterranean species is related to the successional niche of speci...

A simple mathematical model of competition is developed that includes two alternative mechanisms promoting successional diversity. The first underpins the competition-colonization hypothesis in which early successional species are able to persist because they colonize disturbed habitats before the arrival of late successional dominant competitors. The second underpins the niche hypothesis, in w...

The present study investigated changes in photosynthetic characteristics of Guazuma ulmifolia Lam. (early successional species) and Hymenaea courbaril L. (late successional species) grown in contrasting light conditions as a way of assessing photosynthetic plasticity. Early successional species typically inhabit gap environments being exposed to variability in multiple resources, hence it is ex...

Animal-plant interactions are important for the recovery of diversity and processes in secondary forests, which increasingly dominate the tropical landscape. We used a combination of observational and experimental approaches to study the interactions of ants with diaspores across a successional gradient of forests in Southern Brazil, from August 2007 to April 2008. In addition to diaspore remov...