Comparative Drought-Resistance of Seedlings of 28 Species of Co-Occurring Tropical Woody Plants

• Published in: Oecologia Vol. 136; no. 3; pp. 383 - 393
• Main Authors: Bettina M. J. Engelbrecht, Kursar, Thomas A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin Springer-Verlag 01-08-2003; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Autoecology; Biological and medical sciences; Disasters; Drought; Drought resistance; Dry season; Dry seasons; Forestry; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General forest ecology; Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology; Leaf area; Leaves; Microhabitats; Moisture availability; Plant Development; Plant Leaves; Plant populations; Plant species; Plants; Plants and fungi; Population Ecology; Rain; Seasons; Seedlings; Seedlings - growth & development; Soil moisture; Soil water; Soil water content; Survival; Survival Analysis; Tropical Climate; Tropical forests; Tropical plants; Tropical rain forests; Understory; Woody plants; Irrigation; Growth; Soil moisture; Drought resistance; Interspecific comparison; Plant juvenile growth stage; Tropical moist forest; Environmental factor; Tropical forest; Woody plant; Drought; Survival
• ISSN: 0029-8549; 1432-1939
• DOI: 10.1007/s00442-003-1290-8

Quantifying plant drought resistance is important for understanding plant species' association to microhabitats with different soil moisture availability and their distribution along rainfall gradients, as well as for understanding the role of underlying morphological and physiological mechanisms. The effect of dry season drought on survival and leaf-area change of first year seedlings of 28 species of co-occurring woody tropical plants was experimentally quantified in the understory of a tropical moist forest. The seedlings were subjected to a drought or an irrigation treatment in the forest for 22 weeks during the dry season. Drought decreased survival and growth (assessed as leaf-area change) in almost all of the species. Both survival and leaf-area change in the dry treatment ranged fairly evenly from 0% to about 100% of that in the irrigated treatment. In 43% of the species the difference between treatments in survival was not significant even after 22 weeks. In contrast, only three species showed no significant effect of drought on leaf-area change. The effects of drought on species' survival and growth were not correlated with each other, reflecting different strategies in response to drought. Seedling size at the onset of the dry season had no significant effect on species' drought response. Our study is the first to comparatively assess seedling drought resistance in the habitat for a large number of tropical species, and underlines the importance of drought for plant population dynamics in tropical forests.