RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Ecological strategies of tree species in the laurel forest of Tenerife (Canary Islands): an insight into cloud forest natural dynamics using long‑term monitoring data
A1 Ganivet, Elias
A1 Flores, Olivier
A1 Balguerías, Eduardo
A1 Nascimento Reyes, Lea de
A1 Arévalo, José Ramón
A1 Fernández Lugo, Silvia
A1 Fernández-Palacios, José María
K1 Anaga Rural Park
K1 Laurel forests
K1 Spatial analyses
K1 Parque rural Anaga
K1 Bosque de laurel
K1 Análisis espaciales
AB In Tenerife (Canary Islands), the laurel forest is considered one of the most biodiverse ecosystems of the archipelago. Thisstudy aims at providing useful information about tree species strategies and their natural dynamics in order to improveunderstanding of the functioning of this ecosystem. The knowledge gained would be of great importance for laurel forestconservation, not only in the Canaries, but also in Madeira and the Azores. Our main research question is: ‘Are the ecologicalgroups of laurel forest tree species, described in earlier studies based exclusively on regeneration strategies, consistentwith species functional traits, growth patterns and spatial distributions?’ We used data from six 50 × 50 m permanent plotsestablished in 1999 and re-measured in 2015, combined with information on twelve functional traits from newly produceddata or extracted from previous studies. For each species, we analyzed the abundance of seedlings/suckers, saplings andadults inside the permanent plots. Two ordination methods were used to assess multivariate differences in functional traitsbetween species. Different mixed-effect models were tested to investigate effects of sites, individual tree size and competitionon tree growth rates. Finally we analyzed the spatial distribution of both saplings and adults and their interaction withinthe six permanent plots. Our results were consistent with a classification of species into different ecological groups basedon (1) their shade tolerance: light-demanding versus shade-tolerant species and (2) their reproductive strategies: sexual(i.e., seedlings), asexual (i.e., suckers) or both. These differences between light-demanding versus shade-tolerant and/orseedling-producing species versus sucker-producing species were consistently observed across the species functional traits,growth patterns and spatial distributions. Only one species, Viburnum rigidum Vent., presented singularities compared withits previously established group. Because V. rigidum is mostly an understory species, we proposed to add a third aspectto the classification scheme: understory versus canopy species. This led to a total of six ecological groups within fourteenlaurel forest tree species. Finally, this study also showed that the Tenerife laurel forest is still maturing and becoming richerin species, which outlines the importance of its preservation.
PB Springer
SN 1612-4669
YR 2018
FD 2018
LK http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/16500
UL http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/16500
LA en
DS Repositorio institucional de la Universidad de La Laguna
RD 21-nov-2024