TY - JOUR
T1 - Legume abundance along successional and rainfall gradients in Neotropical forests
AU - Gei, Maga
AU - Rozendaal, Danaë M.A.
AU - Poorter, Lourens
AU - Bongers, Frans
AU - Sprent, Janet I.
AU - Garner, Mira D.
AU - Aide, T. Mitchell
AU - Andrade, José Luis
AU - Balvanera, Patricia
AU - Becknell, Justin M.
AU - Brancalion, Pedro H.S.
AU - Cabral, George A.L.
AU - César, Ricardo Gomes
AU - Chazdon, Robin L.
AU - Cole, Rebecca J.
AU - Colletta, Gabriel Dalla
AU - De Jong, Ben
AU - Denslow, Julie S.
AU - Dent, Daisy H.
AU - Dewalt, Saara J.
AU - Dupuy, Juan Manuel
AU - Durán, Sandra M.
AU - Do Espírito Santo, Mário Marcos
AU - Fernandes, G. Wilson
AU - Nunes, Yule Roberta Ferreira
AU - Finegan, Bryan
AU - Moser, Vanessa Granda
AU - Hall, Jefferson S.
AU - Hernández-Stefanoni, José Luis
AU - Junqueira, André B.
AU - Kennard, Deborah
AU - Lebrija-Trejos, Edwin
AU - Letcher, Susan G.
AU - Lohbeck, Madelon
AU - Marín-Spiotta, Erika
AU - Martínez-Ramos, Miguel
AU - Meave, Jorge A.
AU - Menge, Duncan N.L.
AU - Mora, Francisco
AU - Muñoz, Rodrigo
AU - Muscarella, Robert
AU - Ochoa-Gaona, Susana
AU - Orihuela-Belmonte, Edith
AU - Ostertag, Rebecca
AU - Peña-Claros, Marielos
AU - Pérez-García, Eduardo A.
AU - Piotto, Daniel
AU - Reich, Peter B.
AU - Reyes-García, Casandra
AU - Rodríguez-Velázquez, Jorge
AU - Romero-Pérez, I. Eunice
AU - Sanaphre-Villanueva, Lucía
AU - Sanchez-Azofeifa, Arturo
AU - Schwartz, Naomi B.
AU - De Almeida, Arlete Silva
AU - Almeida-Cortez, Jarcilene S.
AU - Silver, Whendee
AU - De Souza Moreno, Vanessa
AU - Sullivan, Benjamin W.
AU - Swenson, Nathan G.
AU - Uriarte, Maria
AU - Van Breugel, Michiel
AU - Van Der Wal, Hans
AU - Veloso, Maria Das Dores Magalhães
AU - Vester, Hans F.M.
AU - Vieira, Ima Célia Guimarães
AU - Zimmerman, Jess K.
AU - Powers, Jennifer S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s).
PY - 2018/7/1
Y1 - 2018/7/1
N2 - The nutrient demands of regrowing tropical forests are partly satisfied by nitrogen-fixing legume trees, but our understanding of the abundance of those species is biased towards wet tropical regions. Here we show how the abundance of Leguminosae is affected by both recovery from disturbance and large-scale rainfall gradients through a synthesis of forest inventory plots from a network of 42 Neotropical forest chronosequences. During the first three decades of natural forest regeneration, legume basal area is twice as high in dry compared with wet secondary forests. The tremendous ecological success of legumes in recently disturbed, water-limited forests is likely to be related to both their reduced leaflet size and ability to fix N2, which together enhance legume drought tolerance and water-use efficiency. Earth system models should incorporate these large-scale successional and climatic patterns of legume dominance to provide more accurate estimates of the maximum potential for natural nitrogen fixation across tropical forests.
AB - The nutrient demands of regrowing tropical forests are partly satisfied by nitrogen-fixing legume trees, but our understanding of the abundance of those species is biased towards wet tropical regions. Here we show how the abundance of Leguminosae is affected by both recovery from disturbance and large-scale rainfall gradients through a synthesis of forest inventory plots from a network of 42 Neotropical forest chronosequences. During the first three decades of natural forest regeneration, legume basal area is twice as high in dry compared with wet secondary forests. The tremendous ecological success of legumes in recently disturbed, water-limited forests is likely to be related to both their reduced leaflet size and ability to fix N2, which together enhance legume drought tolerance and water-use efficiency. Earth system models should incorporate these large-scale successional and climatic patterns of legume dominance to provide more accurate estimates of the maximum potential for natural nitrogen fixation across tropical forests.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41559-018-0559-6
DO - 10.1038/s41559-018-0559-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 29807995
AN - SCOPUS:85047782913
SN - 2397-334X
VL - 2
SP - 1104
EP - 1111
JO - Nature Ecology and Evolution
JF - Nature Ecology and Evolution
IS - 7
ER -