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Pre-dispersal and early post-dispersal demography, and reproductive litter production, in the tropical tree Dicymbe altsonii in Guyana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Roderick J. Zagt
Roderick J. Zagt
Affiliation:
The Tropenbos-Guyana Programme, 12E Garnett Street, Campbellville, Georgetown, Guyana; and Department of Plant Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80084, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Abstract

The demographic history of a flower-cohort of the tropical tree Dicymbe altsonii (Caesalpiniaceae) was studied by collecting litter from flowers, fruits and seeds, and by monitoring seedling survival. Flower production was estimated at 137 to 172 m−2 in a plot of 1 ha. Four percent of the flowers yielded a pod, which contained an average of 2.0 seeds. Post-dispersal mortality over 3 mo was 39% of the initial number of dispersed seeds. Most flowers and fruits were aborted. Insect and vertebrate predation in the tree and on the ground was very low. Reproductive litter production of this species was estimated to be equal to leaf litter production. The amount of phosphorus lost in litter from fruits and flowers was much larger than in leaf litter. This implies that the impact of the biennial flowering events on the nutrient dynamics of the trees and of the ecosystem may be large. It is argued that the reproductive cycle and the pre-dispersal demography of Dicymbe seem to be determined by a scarcity of nutrient resources, and possibly by pollinator limitation.

Keywords

Dicymbe altsoniiflower abortionfruitingGuyanaLeguminosaelitterfallphosporusnutrient dynamicsseed-demographytropical rainforest
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , July 1997 , pp. 511 - 526
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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