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Climate and soil drive forest structure in Bolivian lowland forests

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2011

Marisol Toledo ,
Lourens Poorter ,
Marielos Peña-Claros ,
Alfredo Alarcón ,
Julio Balcázar ,
Claudio Leaño ,
Juan Carlos Licona  and
Frans Bongers
Marisol Toledo*
Affiliation:
Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Centre for Ecosystem Studies, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands Instituto Boliviano de Investigación Forestal (IBIF), Casilla 6204, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Lourens Poorter
Affiliation:
Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Centre for Ecosystem Studies, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands Instituto Boliviano de Investigación Forestal (IBIF), Casilla 6204, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Marielos Peña-Claros
Affiliation:
Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Centre for Ecosystem Studies, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands Instituto Boliviano de Investigación Forestal (IBIF), Casilla 6204, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Alfredo Alarcón
Affiliation:
Instituto Boliviano de Investigación Forestal (IBIF), Casilla 6204, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Julio Balcázar
Affiliation:
Instituto Boliviano de Investigación Forestal (IBIF), Casilla 6204, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Claudio Leaño
Affiliation:
Instituto Boliviano de Investigación Forestal (IBIF), Casilla 6204, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Juan Carlos Licona
Affiliation:
Instituto Boliviano de Investigación Forestal (IBIF), Casilla 6204, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Frans Bongers
Affiliation:
Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Centre for Ecosystem Studies, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands
*
1Corresponding author. Email: mtoledo@ibifbolivia.org.bo
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Abstract:

Climate is one of the most important factors determining variation in forest structure, but whether soils have independent effects is less clear. We evaluate how climate and soil independently affect forest structure, using 89 200 stems ≥ 10 cm dbh from 220 1-ha permanent plots distributed along environmental gradients in lowland Bolivia. Fifteen forest structural variables, related to vertical structure (forest height and layering), horizontal structure (basal area, median and the 99th percentile of the stem diameter and size-class distribution) and density of life forms (tree, palm and liana), were evaluated. Environmental variables were summarized in four multivariate axes, related to rainfall, temperature, soil fertility and soil texture. Multiple regression indicates that all structural variables were affected by one or more of the environmental axes, but the explained variation was generally low (median R2 = 0.15). Rainfall and soil texture affected most forest structural variables (respectively 87% and 80%) and had qualitatively similar effects. This suggests that plant water availability, as determined by rainfall and soil water retention capacity, is the strongest driver of forest structure, whereas soil fertility was a weaker driver of forest structure, affecting 53% of the variables. Maximum forest height, palm density, total basal area and liana infestation showed the strongest responses to environmental variation (with R2 ranging from 0.31–0.82). Forest height, palm density and total basal area increased with plant water availability, while liana infestation decreased with plant water availability. Therefore, multiple rather than single environmental factors must be used to explain the structure of tropical forests.

Keywords

climateenvironmental gradientforest structurelianalowland Boliviapalmsoiltree
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , July 2011 , pp. 333 - 345
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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