Species assemblages and their drivers differ between trees and lianas in a seasonal evergreen forest in Thailand
Abstract Despite a long tradition in ecology of studying tree species assembly and its potential drivers in tropical forest communities, little information exists with respect to lianas (woody climbers), the second most abundant life form of woody plants in tropical forests. Lianas influence forest...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2024-08-01
|
| Series: | Ecosphere |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4942 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849468931220176896 |
|---|---|
| author | Wirong Chanthorn Thorsten Wiegand Anuttara Nathalang Rajapandian Kanagaraj Stuart Davies Zhenhua Sun Nitin K. Tripathi Maxime Réjou‐Méchain Warren Y. Brockelman |
| author_facet | Wirong Chanthorn Thorsten Wiegand Anuttara Nathalang Rajapandian Kanagaraj Stuart Davies Zhenhua Sun Nitin K. Tripathi Maxime Réjou‐Méchain Warren Y. Brockelman |
| author_sort | Wirong Chanthorn |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Despite a long tradition in ecology of studying tree species assembly and its potential drivers in tropical forest communities, little information exists with respect to lianas (woody climbers), the second most abundant life form of woody plants in tropical forests. Lianas influence forest diversity and stability and provide critical resources for forest fauna. Using a unique dataset of a 30‐ha plot in Thailand, where tree and liana individuals were fully mapped, we investigated the degree to which local species assemblages of trees and lianas of different size classes (i.e., seedlings, established individuals, and large individuals) are related to local environmental conditions. We asked (1) What are the spatial patterns and environmental drivers of local tree and liana species assemblages? (2) How do such patterns and drivers differ among size classes? (3) Which species associate with these assemblages? Local assemblages of established trees showed substantial structuring by environmental variables, whereas we found only weakly structured assemblages of tree seedlings, large trees, and lianas of all size classes. Our results indicated that the biotic and abiotic drivers of local species assemblages differed strongly between tree and liana communities and across size classes. Species assemblages of trees were mainly driven by soil nutrients, leading to patchy assemblages associated with high base saturation (Alfisols) and assemblages associated with lower levels of base saturation and higher aluminum (Ultisols), whereas tree seedling assemblages were only weakly structured by riparian zones. In contrast, species assemblages of established and large lianas were primarily associated with forest canopy structure, separating low‐canopy forests from high‐canopy forests, whereas soil nutrients were the only factors associated with liana seedling assemblages. The weak environmental structuring of tree seedlings and large trees suggests that other mechanisms, such as stochastic disturbances, competition for space, or animal seed dispersal, may play an important role in structuring tree communities in this seasonal tropical forest. The weak patterns observed in liana communities across all life stages raise questions about the underlying mechanisms of liana community assembly, and further research should focus on liana niches, their dispersal mechanisms, and host tree relations. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9dc9cf577a3a4b4eaec3ca815e7e4e8d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2150-8925 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-08-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecosphere |
| spelling | doaj-art-9dc9cf577a3a4b4eaec3ca815e7e4e8d2025-08-20T03:25:42ZengWileyEcosphere2150-89252024-08-01158n/an/a10.1002/ecs2.4942Species assemblages and their drivers differ between trees and lianas in a seasonal evergreen forest in ThailandWirong Chanthorn0Thorsten Wiegand1Anuttara Nathalang2Rajapandian Kanagaraj3Stuart Davies4Zhenhua Sun5Nitin K. Tripathi6Maxime Réjou‐Méchain7Warren Y. Brockelman8Department of Ecological Modelling Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ Leipzig GermanyDepartment of Ecological Modelling Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ Leipzig GermanyNational Biobank of Thailand (NBT), National Science and Technology Development Agency Klong Luang Pathum Thani ThailandDepartment of Ecological Modelling Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ Leipzig GermanyForest Global Earth Observatory Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Panama Republic of PanamaCAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Mengla Yunnan ChinaDepartment of Information and Communication Technologies School of Engineering and Technology (SET), Asian Institute of Technology Klong Luang Pathum Thani ThailandAMAP, Université de Montpellier, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, IRD Montpellier FranceNational Biobank of Thailand (NBT), National Science and Technology Development Agency Klong Luang Pathum Thani ThailandAbstract Despite a long tradition in ecology of studying tree species assembly and its potential drivers in tropical forest communities, little information exists with respect to lianas (woody climbers), the second most abundant life form of woody plants in tropical forests. Lianas influence forest diversity and stability and provide critical resources for forest fauna. Using a unique dataset of a 30‐ha plot in Thailand, where tree and liana individuals were fully mapped, we investigated the degree to which local species assemblages of trees and lianas of different size classes (i.e., seedlings, established individuals, and large individuals) are related to local environmental conditions. We asked (1) What are the spatial patterns and environmental drivers of local tree and liana species assemblages? (2) How do such patterns and drivers differ among size classes? (3) Which species associate with these assemblages? Local assemblages of established trees showed substantial structuring by environmental variables, whereas we found only weakly structured assemblages of tree seedlings, large trees, and lianas of all size classes. Our results indicated that the biotic and abiotic drivers of local species assemblages differed strongly between tree and liana communities and across size classes. Species assemblages of trees were mainly driven by soil nutrients, leading to patchy assemblages associated with high base saturation (Alfisols) and assemblages associated with lower levels of base saturation and higher aluminum (Ultisols), whereas tree seedling assemblages were only weakly structured by riparian zones. In contrast, species assemblages of established and large lianas were primarily associated with forest canopy structure, separating low‐canopy forests from high‐canopy forests, whereas soil nutrients were the only factors associated with liana seedling assemblages. The weak environmental structuring of tree seedlings and large trees suggests that other mechanisms, such as stochastic disturbances, competition for space, or animal seed dispersal, may play an important role in structuring tree communities in this seasonal tropical forest. The weak patterns observed in liana communities across all life stages raise questions about the underlying mechanisms of liana community assembly, and further research should focus on liana niches, their dispersal mechanisms, and host tree relations.https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4942disturbancehabitat associationindicator speciesmultivariate regression treeseedlingssoil nutrients |
| spellingShingle | Wirong Chanthorn Thorsten Wiegand Anuttara Nathalang Rajapandian Kanagaraj Stuart Davies Zhenhua Sun Nitin K. Tripathi Maxime Réjou‐Méchain Warren Y. Brockelman Species assemblages and their drivers differ between trees and lianas in a seasonal evergreen forest in Thailand Ecosphere disturbance habitat association indicator species multivariate regression tree seedlings soil nutrients |
| title | Species assemblages and their drivers differ between trees and lianas in a seasonal evergreen forest in Thailand |
| title_full | Species assemblages and their drivers differ between trees and lianas in a seasonal evergreen forest in Thailand |
| title_fullStr | Species assemblages and their drivers differ between trees and lianas in a seasonal evergreen forest in Thailand |
| title_full_unstemmed | Species assemblages and their drivers differ between trees and lianas in a seasonal evergreen forest in Thailand |
| title_short | Species assemblages and their drivers differ between trees and lianas in a seasonal evergreen forest in Thailand |
| title_sort | species assemblages and their drivers differ between trees and lianas in a seasonal evergreen forest in thailand |
| topic | disturbance habitat association indicator species multivariate regression tree seedlings soil nutrients |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4942 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT wirongchanthorn speciesassemblagesandtheirdriversdifferbetweentreesandlianasinaseasonalevergreenforestinthailand AT thorstenwiegand speciesassemblagesandtheirdriversdifferbetweentreesandlianasinaseasonalevergreenforestinthailand AT anuttaranathalang speciesassemblagesandtheirdriversdifferbetweentreesandlianasinaseasonalevergreenforestinthailand AT rajapandiankanagaraj speciesassemblagesandtheirdriversdifferbetweentreesandlianasinaseasonalevergreenforestinthailand AT stuartdavies speciesassemblagesandtheirdriversdifferbetweentreesandlianasinaseasonalevergreenforestinthailand AT zhenhuasun speciesassemblagesandtheirdriversdifferbetweentreesandlianasinaseasonalevergreenforestinthailand AT nitinktripathi speciesassemblagesandtheirdriversdifferbetweentreesandlianasinaseasonalevergreenforestinthailand AT maximerejoumechain speciesassemblagesandtheirdriversdifferbetweentreesandlianasinaseasonalevergreenforestinthailand AT warrenybrockelman speciesassemblagesandtheirdriversdifferbetweentreesandlianasinaseasonalevergreenforestinthailand |