Open AccessTrade‐offs tip toward litter trapping: Insights from a little‐known Panamanian cloud‐forest treelet
Author(s) -
Harms Kyle E.,
Dalling James W.,
Sánchez de Stapf María N.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plants, people, planet
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2572-2611
DOI - 10.1002/ppp3.10161
Subject(s) - understory , plant litter , litter , biology , canopy , resource (disambiguation) , habitat , photosynthesis , deciduous , nutrient , agroforestry , ecology , environmental science , botany , computer network , computer science
Quadrella antonensis and its congener, Q. dressleri , are striking examples of shrubs and small trees the architecture and morphology of which appear to be adapted to trap leaf litter falling from the forest canopy. Endemic to a few highland locations in Panama, Q. antonensis apparently trades‐off light‐capture efficiency for aboveground nutrient capture. Leaves are arranged in spirals around branch tips into basket‐like structures. These “trash baskets” collect and retain litter and produce adventitious fine roots that proliferate in the rich humus that develops inside them. Concerted efforts are needed to better understand the adaptive significance of litter‐trapping morphologies, the conditions that favor their evolution, and to protect the dwindling habitats of these botanical oddities.