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Phenology and stem-growth periodicity of tree species in Amazonian floodplain forests

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2002

Jochen Schöngart
Affiliation:
Institute for Forest Botany, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Büsgenweg 2, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
Maria Teresa F. Piedade
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia, Av. André Araujó 1756, Cx. P. 478, 69011-910 Manaus/AM, Brazil
Sabine Ludwigshausen
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute for Limnology, Tropical Ecology, P.O. Box 165, 24302 Plön, Germany
Viviana Horna
Affiliation:
Plant Ecology, University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany
Martin Worbes
Affiliation:
Institute for Forest Botany, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Büsgenweg 2, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

Abstract

To study the impact of the annual long-term flooding (flood-pulse) on seasonal tree development in Amazonian floodplains, the phenology and growth in stem diameter of various tree species with different leaf-change patterns were observed over a period of 2 y. The trees of the functional ecotypes, evergreen, brevi-deciduous, deciduous and stem-succulent showed a periodic behaviour mainly triggered by the flood-pulse. Trees have high increment during the terrestrial phase. Flooding causes a shedding of some or all leaves leading to a cambial dormancy of about 2 mo and the formation of an annual ring. Studies carried out in tropical dry forests verify a strong relationship between the phenological development and the water status of the trees, strongly affected by seasonal drought. The comparison of the phenology and the diameter growth of the corresponding ecotypes in floodplain forest and a semi-deciduous forest in Venezuela shows a displacement of at least 2 mo in the periodicity, except for stem-succulent tree species. For stem-succulent trees it remains unclear which factors influence phenology and stem diameter growth.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2002 Cambridge University Press

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