TY - JOUR
T1 - Lianas reduce biomass accumulation in early successional tropical forests
AU - Estrada-Villegas, Sergio
AU - Hall, Jefferson S.
AU - van Breugel, Michiel
AU - Schnitzer, Stefan A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work is a contribution of the Agua Salud Project, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), and the Ministry of the Environment of Panama (MiAmbiente). Agua Salud is part of the Smithsonian Institution Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO). This research was supported by the ForestGEO, Heising‐ Simons Foundation, HSBC Climate Partnership, Stanley Motta, Small World Institute Fund, the Hoch family, the National Science Foundation (NSF grant EAR‐1360391), Yale‐NUS College (grant R‐607‐265‐054‐121), and STRI. SE‐V has supported by a fellowship from the Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación COLCIENCIAS, the Dr. Catherine Grotelueschen Scholarship in Biology from Marquette University, and the UWM Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies. SAS was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF DEB‐1019436, DEB‐1258070, and IOS‐1558093). We thank Mario Bailón, Julia González, Anabel Rivas, Miguel Nuñez, Guillermo Fernandez, Johana Balbuena, Yuriza Guerrero, Oldemar Valdes, Boris Bernal, Avelino Valdes, Erick Díaz, Jeremy La‐Che, Kenneth Contreras, Silfredo Tascon, Rigoberto Rivera Camaña, Eric Valdes, and Edwin Peres for help with fieldwork; Katherine Sinacore, Evelyn Sánchez, Estrella Yanguas, Federico Davies, and “Chendo” for logistical support. Milton Solano created the map of our study site.
Funding Information:
This work is a contribution of the Agua Salud Project, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), and the Ministry of the Environment of Panama (MiAmbiente). Agua Salud is part of the Smithsonian Institution Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO). This research was supported by the ForestGEO, Heising- Simons Foundation, HSBC Climate Partnership, Stanley Motta, Small World Institute Fund, the Hoch family, the National Science Foundation (NSF grant EAR-1360391), Yale-NUS College (grant R-607-265-054-121), and STRI. SE-V has supported by a fellowship from the Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación COLCIENCIAS, the Dr. Catherine Grotelueschen Scholarship in Biology from Marquette University, and the UWM Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies. SAS was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF DEB-1019436, DEB-1258070, and IOS-1558093). We thank Mario Bailón, Julia González, Anabel Rivas, Miguel Nuñez, Guillermo Fernandez, Johana Balbuena, Yuriza Guerrero, Oldemar Valdes, Boris Bernal, Avelino Valdes, Erick Díaz, Jeremy La-Che, Kenneth Contreras, Silfredo Tascon, Rigoberto Rivera Camaña, Eric Valdes, and Edwin Peres for help with fieldwork; Katherine Sinacore, Evelyn Sánchez, Estrella Yanguas, Federico Davies, and “Chendo” for logistical support. Milton Solano created the map of our study site.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the Ecological Society of America
PY - 2020/5/1
Y1 - 2020/5/1
N2 - Early successional tropical forests could mitigate climate change via rapid accumulation of atmospheric carbon. However, liana (woody vine) abundance and biomass has been increasing in many tropical forests over the past decades, which may slow the speed at which secondary forests accumulate biomass. Lianas decrease biomass accumulation in tropical forests, and may have a particularly strong effect on young forests by stalling tree growth. As forests mature, trees may outgrow or shed lianas, thus escaping some of the negative effects of lianas. Alternatively, lianas may have the strongest effect in older successional forests if the effect of lianas is commensurate with their density, which increases dramatically in the first decades of forest succession. We tested these two hypotheses using a landscape liana-removal experiment in 30 forest stands that ranged from 10 to 35 yr old in Central Panama. We measured tree growth and biomass accumulation in the stands every year from 2014 to 2017. We found that the effect of liana removal on large trees (≥20-cm diameter) decreased with forest age, supporting the hypothesis that lianas have the strongest negative effects on trees, and thus biomass uptake and carbon storage, in very young successional forests. Large trees accumulated more biomass in the absence of lianas in younger forests than in older forests (compared to controls) even after accounting for the effect of canopy completeness and crown illumination, implying that the detrimental effects of lianas go well beyond resource availability and crown health. There was no significant effect of lianas on small trees (1–20-cm diameter), likely because lianas seek light and thus do not deploy their leaves on small trees that are trapped in the forest understory. Our results show that high liana density early in forest succession reduces forest biomass accumulation by negatively impacting large trees, thus decreasing the capacity of young secondary forests to mitigate climate change. Although the negative effects of lianas on forest biomass diminish as forests age, they do not disappear, and thus lianas are an important component of tropical forest carbon budgets throughout succession.
AB - Early successional tropical forests could mitigate climate change via rapid accumulation of atmospheric carbon. However, liana (woody vine) abundance and biomass has been increasing in many tropical forests over the past decades, which may slow the speed at which secondary forests accumulate biomass. Lianas decrease biomass accumulation in tropical forests, and may have a particularly strong effect on young forests by stalling tree growth. As forests mature, trees may outgrow or shed lianas, thus escaping some of the negative effects of lianas. Alternatively, lianas may have the strongest effect in older successional forests if the effect of lianas is commensurate with their density, which increases dramatically in the first decades of forest succession. We tested these two hypotheses using a landscape liana-removal experiment in 30 forest stands that ranged from 10 to 35 yr old in Central Panama. We measured tree growth and biomass accumulation in the stands every year from 2014 to 2017. We found that the effect of liana removal on large trees (≥20-cm diameter) decreased with forest age, supporting the hypothesis that lianas have the strongest negative effects on trees, and thus biomass uptake and carbon storage, in very young successional forests. Large trees accumulated more biomass in the absence of lianas in younger forests than in older forests (compared to controls) even after accounting for the effect of canopy completeness and crown illumination, implying that the detrimental effects of lianas go well beyond resource availability and crown health. There was no significant effect of lianas on small trees (1–20-cm diameter), likely because lianas seek light and thus do not deploy their leaves on small trees that are trapped in the forest understory. Our results show that high liana density early in forest succession reduces forest biomass accumulation by negatively impacting large trees, thus decreasing the capacity of young secondary forests to mitigate climate change. Although the negative effects of lianas on forest biomass diminish as forests age, they do not disappear, and thus lianas are an important component of tropical forest carbon budgets throughout succession.
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U2 - 10.1002/ecy.2989
DO - 10.1002/ecy.2989
M3 - Research Article
C2 - 31961451
AN - SCOPUS:85079722946
SN - 0012-9658
VL - 101
JO - Ecology
JF - Ecology
IS - 5
M1 - e02989
ER -