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Successional syndromes of saplings in tropical secondary forests emerge from environment‐dependent trait–demography relationships
Author(s) -
Lai Hao Ran,
Craven Dylan,
Hall Jefferson S.,
Hui Francis K. C.,
Breugel Michiel
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/ele.13784
Subject(s) - chronosequence , ecology , biology , trait , ecological succession , understory , secondary succession , context (archaeology) , vital rates , canopy , pioneer species , population , demography , population growth , paleontology , sociology , computer science , programming language
Identifying generalisable processes that underpin population dynamics is crucial for understanding successional patterns. While longitudinal or chronosequence data are powerful tools for doing so, the traditional focus on community‐level shifts in taxonomic and functional composition rather than species‐level trait–demography relationships has made generalisation difficult. Using joint species distribution models, we demonstrate how three traits—photosynthetic rate, adult stature, and seed mass—moderate recruitment and sapling mortality rates of 46 woody species during secondary succession. We show that the pioneer syndrome emerges from higher photosynthetic rates, shorter adult statures and lighter seeds that facilitate exploitation of light in younger secondary forests, while ‘long‐lived pioneer’ and ‘late successional’ syndromes are associated with trait values that enable species to persist in the understory or reach the upper canopy in older secondary forests. Our study highlights the context dependency of trait–demography relationships, which drive successional shifts in sapling's species composition in secondary forests.