Drought reduces the growth and health of tropical rainforest understory plants
| العنوان: | Drought reduces the growth and health of tropical rainforest understory plants |
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| المؤلفون: | David Y.P. Tng, Deborah M.G. Apgaua, Claudia P. Paz, Raymond W. Dempsey, Lucas A. Cernusak, Michael J. Liddell, Susan G.W. Laurance |
| المساهمون: | School for Field Studies, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), James Cook University |
| المصدر: | Scopus Repositório Institucional da UNESP Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) instacron:UNESP |
| بيانات النشر: | Elsevier BV, 2022. |
| سنة النشر: | 2022 |
| مصطلحات موضوعية: | Drought, Plant functional traits, Throughfall exclusion, Tropical rainforest, Forestry, Leaf economic spectrum, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, Tropical plant life forms, Nature and Landscape Conservation |
| الوصف: | Made available in DSpace on 2022-04-28T19:51:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2022-05-01 Tree saplings and shrubs are frequently overlooked components of tropical rainforest biodiversity, and it may be hypothesized that their small stature and shallow root systems predisposes them to be vulnerable to drought. However, these purported influences of drought on growth, physiological performance and plant traits on tree saplings and shrubs have yet to be studied in simulated drought conditions in the field. We simulated drought using a rainfall exclusion experiment in 0.4 ha of lowland tropical rainforest in northeast Australia in 2015. After six months, we compared the average change in aboveground biomass and plant health of drought-affected tree saplings and understory shrubs with control individuals. We also assessed photosynthetic function, plant health and leaf traits in eight target species. Both tree saplings and shrubs had significantly lower aboveground biomass in the drought treatment compared to the control. Drought-affected individuals of target species exhibited a significantly higher incidence of disease and insect attack, and reduced photosynthesis, leaf fresh mass and leaf toughness compared to control individuals. We conclude that reduced growth and photosynthetic capability, an increased susceptibility to insect attack, and leaf trait changes constitute a near immediate drought response in tropical rainforest tree saplings and shrubs. Our results show that these often-overlooked lifeforms are likely to be the most rapidly and negatively impacted component of tropical rainforest biodiversity under drought conditions. Centre for Rainforest Studies School for Field Studies Department of Ecology Institute of Biosciences São Paulo State University, Av 24A 1515, SP Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Sciences College of Science and Engineering James Cook University, 14-88 McGregor Rd, Smithfield Department of Ecology Institute of Biosciences São Paulo State University, Av 24A 1515, SP |
| تدمد: | 0378-1127 |
| الوصول الحر: | https://explore.openaire.eu/search/publication?articleId=doi_dedup___::fd4b4c7a56552c339b91c44011e987edTest https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120128Test |
| حقوق: | OPEN |
| رقم الانضمام: | edsair.doi.dedup.....fd4b4c7a56552c339b91c44011e987ed |
| قاعدة البيانات: | OpenAIRE |
| تدمد: | 03781127 |
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