Journal
BIOTROPICA
Volume 46, Issue 5, Pages 538-548Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/btp.12136
Keywords
forest regeneration; functional diversity; New Guinea; plant traits; secondary succession; tropical forests
Categories
Funding
- US National Science Foundation [DEB-0515678]
- Czech Science Foundation [P505/10/0673, 206/09/0115]
- Arnold Arboretum (Deland Award)
- Society of Systematic Biologists
- Systematics Association (Systematics Research Fund)
- University of Minnesota (Department of Plant Biology)
- University of Minnesota (Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Dayton fellowship)
- University of Minnesota (Office of International Programs)
- University of Minnesota (Carolyn Crosby Fellowship)
- University of Minnesota (Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship)
- University of Minnesota (Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Rothman fellowship)
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Much of the world's tropical forests have been affected by anthropogenic disturbance. These forests are important biodiversity reservoirs whose diversity, structure and function must be characterized across the successional sequence. We examined changes in structure and diversity along a successional gradient in the lowlands of New Guinea. To do this, we measured and identified all stems 5cm diameter in 19 0.25ha plots ranging in age from 3 to >50yr since disturbance. We also measured plant functional traits related to establishment, performance, and competitive ability. In addition, we examined change in forest structure, composition, species diversity, and functional diversity through succession. By using rarefaction to estimate functional diversity, we compared changes in functional diversity while controlling for associated differences in stem and species density. Basal area and species density increased with stand age while stem density was highest in intermediate secondary forests. Species composition differed strongly between mature and secondary forests. As forests increased in basal area, community-weighted mean wood density and foliar carbon increased, whereas specific leaf area and proportion of stems with exudate decreased. Foliar nitrogen peaked in medium-aged forests. Functional diversity was highest in mature forests, even after accounting for differences in stem and species diversity. Our study represents one of the first attempts to document successional changes in New Guinea's lowland forest. We found robust evidence that as succession proceeds, communities occupy a greater range of functional trait space even after controlling for stem and species density. High functional diversity is important for ecological resiliency in the face of global change.
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