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Allocation trade-offs dominate the response of tropical forest growth to seasonal and interannual drought

Doughty, Christopher E. ; Malhi, Yadvinder ; Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro ; Metcalfe, Dan LU ; Silva-Espejo, Javier E. ; Arroyo, Luzmila ; Heredia, Juan P. ; Pardo-Toledo, Erwin ; Mendizabal, Luz M. and Rojas-Landivar, Victor D. , et al. (2014) In Ecology 95(8). p.2192-2201
Abstract
What determines the seasonal and interannual variation of growth rates in trees in a tropical forest? We explore this question with a novel four-year high-temporal-resolution data set of carbon allocation from two forest plots in the Bolivian Amazon. The forests show strong seasonal variation in tree wood growth rates, which are largely explained by shifts in carbon allocation, and not by shifts in total productivity. At the deeper soil plot, there was a clear seasonal trade-off between wood and canopy NPP, while the shallower soils plot showed a contrasting seasonal trade-off between wood and fine roots. Although a strong 2010 drought reduced photosynthesis, NPP remained constant and increased in the six-month period following the... (More)
What determines the seasonal and interannual variation of growth rates in trees in a tropical forest? We explore this question with a novel four-year high-temporal-resolution data set of carbon allocation from two forest plots in the Bolivian Amazon. The forests show strong seasonal variation in tree wood growth rates, which are largely explained by shifts in carbon allocation, and not by shifts in total productivity. At the deeper soil plot, there was a clear seasonal trade-off between wood and canopy NPP, while the shallower soils plot showed a contrasting seasonal trade-off between wood and fine roots. Although a strong 2010 drought reduced photosynthesis, NPP remained constant and increased in the six-month period following the drought, which indicates usage of significant nonstructural carbohydrate stores. Following the drought, carbon allocation increased initially towards the canopy, and then in the following year, allocation increased towards fine-root production. Had we only measured woody growth at these sites and inferred total NPP, we would have misinterpreted both the seasonal and interannual responses. In many tropical forest ecosystems, we propose that changing tree growth rates are more likely to reflect shifts in allocation rather than changes in overall productivity. Only a whole NPP allocation perspective can correctly interpret the relationship between changes in growth and changes in productivity. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Bolivia, deep vs. shallow soils, drought, net primary production (NPP), resource allocation, seasonally dry tropical forest
in
Ecology
volume
95
issue
8
pages
2192 - 2201
publisher
Ecological Society of America
external identifiers
  • wos:000340215900017
  • scopus:84905661577
ISSN
0012-9658
DOI
10.1890/13-1507.1
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
f2eab8b2-a470-4654-b4fb-9e9545c98f99 (old id 4643652)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:16:04
date last changed
2022-04-21 20:40:56
@article{f2eab8b2-a470-4654-b4fb-9e9545c98f99,
  abstract     = {{What determines the seasonal and interannual variation of growth rates in trees in a tropical forest? We explore this question with a novel four-year high-temporal-resolution data set of carbon allocation from two forest plots in the Bolivian Amazon. The forests show strong seasonal variation in tree wood growth rates, which are largely explained by shifts in carbon allocation, and not by shifts in total productivity. At the deeper soil plot, there was a clear seasonal trade-off between wood and canopy NPP, while the shallower soils plot showed a contrasting seasonal trade-off between wood and fine roots. Although a strong 2010 drought reduced photosynthesis, NPP remained constant and increased in the six-month period following the drought, which indicates usage of significant nonstructural carbohydrate stores. Following the drought, carbon allocation increased initially towards the canopy, and then in the following year, allocation increased towards fine-root production. Had we only measured woody growth at these sites and inferred total NPP, we would have misinterpreted both the seasonal and interannual responses. In many tropical forest ecosystems, we propose that changing tree growth rates are more likely to reflect shifts in allocation rather than changes in overall productivity. Only a whole NPP allocation perspective can correctly interpret the relationship between changes in growth and changes in productivity.}},
  author       = {{Doughty, Christopher E. and Malhi, Yadvinder and Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro and Metcalfe, Dan and Silva-Espejo, Javier E. and Arroyo, Luzmila and Heredia, Juan P. and Pardo-Toledo, Erwin and Mendizabal, Luz M. and Rojas-Landivar, Victor D. and Vega-Martinez, Meison and Flores-Valencia, Marcio and Sibler-Rivero, Rebeca and Moreno-Vare, Luzmarina and Viscarra, Laura Jessica and Chuviru-Castro, Tamara and Osinaga-Becerra, Marilin and Ledezma, Roxana}},
  issn         = {{0012-9658}},
  keywords     = {{Bolivia; deep vs. shallow soils; drought; net primary production (NPP); resource allocation; seasonally dry tropical forest}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{2192--2201}},
  publisher    = {{Ecological Society of America}},
  series       = {{Ecology}},
  title        = {{Allocation trade-offs dominate the response of tropical forest growth to seasonal and interannual drought}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/13-1507.1}},
  doi          = {{10.1890/13-1507.1}},
  volume       = {{95}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}