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Resource allocation to reproductive organs during masting in the tropical emergent tree, Dipterocarpus tempehes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2005

Tomoaki Ichie
Affiliation:
Hokkaido University Forests, FSC, Sapporo 060-0809, Japan
Tanaka Kenta
Affiliation:
Tomakomai Experimental Forest, Hokkaido University, Tomakomai 053-0035, Japan
Michiko Nakagawa
Affiliation:
Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto 602-0878, Japan
Kaori Sato
Affiliation:
Japan Wildlife Research Center, Tokyo 110-8676, Japan
Tohru Nakashizuka
Affiliation:
Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto 602-0878, Japan CREST, Japan Science Technology Agency, Kawaguchi 332-0012, Japan

Abstract

Some tree species exhibit large year-to-year variation in seed production, a phenomenon known as masting (Kelly 1994, Kelly & Sork 2002). Even in tropical rain forests, in which the climate is suitable for plant growth all year round with little seasonal variation (Whitmore 1998), there are many reports of masting (Appanah 1993, Hart 1995, Newbery et al. 1998, Newstrom et al. 1994, Wheelwright 1986). In particular, Dipterocarpaceae, the dominant family in lowland mixed dipterocarp forests in South-East Asia, undergo mast fruiting following mass-flowering with strong interspecific synchronization in aseasonal western Malesia (Appanah 1985, 1993; Ashton 1989, Ashton et al. 1988, Curran et al. 1999, Janzen 1974, Medway 1972, Sakai et al. 1999, Whitmore 1998, Wood 1956). In mixed-dipterocarp forests, dipterocarp species contribute more than 70% of the canopy biomass (Bruenig 1996, Curran & Leighton 2000). Masting of dipterocarp species is therefore likely to have a major impact on animal populations, and also on the nutrient cycle in such forest ecosystems by causing fluctuations in the availability of resources (Sakai 2002).

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
2005 Cambridge University Press

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