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Differential growth responses in seedlings of ten species of Dipterocarpaceae to experimental shading and defoliation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2012

C. E. Timothy Paine ,
Martin Stenflo ,
Christopher D. Philipson ,
Philippe Saner ,
Robert Bagchi ,
Robert C. Ong  and
Andy Hector
C. E. Timothy Paine*
Affiliation:
Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland
Martin Stenflo
Affiliation:
Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland
Christopher D. Philipson
Affiliation:
Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland
Philippe Saner
Affiliation:
Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland
Robert Bagchi
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Biomedical Science, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
Robert C. Ong
Affiliation:
Sabah Forestry Department, Forest Research Centre, Forestry Department Sabah, Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia
Andy Hector
Affiliation:
Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland
*
1Corresponding author. Email: timothy.paine@ieu.uzh.ch
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Abstract:

The responses of plants to shade and foliar herbivory jointly affect growth rates and community assembly. We grew 600 seedlings of ten species of the economically important Dipterocarpaceae in experimental gradients of shading (0.3–47.0% of full sunlight) and defoliation (0, 25%, 50% or 75% of leaf area removed). We assessed stem diameters initially, after 2 and 4 mo, and calculated relative growth rates (RGR) with a linear model. Shading interacted with defoliation, reducing RGR by 21.6% in shaded conditions and 8.9% in well-lit conditions. We tested three hypotheses for interspecific trade-offs in growth responses to shading and defoliation. They could be positively related, because both reduce a plant's access to carbon, or inversely related because of trade-offs between herbivore resistance and tolerance. We observed, however, that species varied in their response to shading, but not defoliation, precluding an interspecific trade-off and suggesting that plants tolerate shade and herbivory with differing strategies. Shading most strongly reduced the growth of species with less-dense wood and larger seeds. The strong and variable growth responses to shade, contrasted with the weak and uniform responses to defoliation, suggest that variation in light availability more strongly affects the growth of tropical tree seedlings, and thus community assembly, than does variation in herbivory.

Keywords

allocation trade-offsdefenceDipterocarpaceaeherbivoryrelative growth rateSabahshade tolerance
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , July 2012 , pp. 377 - 384
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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