Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Are all seeds equal? Spatially explicit comparisons of seed fall and sapling recruitment in a tropical forest

Publication ,  Journal Article
Swamy, V; Terborgh, J; Dexter, KG; Best, BD; Alvarez, P; Cornejo, F
Published in: Ecology Letters
January 1, 2011

Ecology Letters (2011) 14: 195-201 Understanding demographic transitions may provide the key to explain the high diversity of tropical tree communities. In a faunally intact Amazonian forest, we compared the spatial distribution of saplings of 15 common tree species with patterns of conspecific seed fall, and examined the seed-to-sapling transition in relation to locations of conspecific trees. In all species, the spatial pattern of sapling recruitment bore no resemblance to predicted distributions based on the density of seed fall. Seed efficiency (the probability of a seed producing a sapling) is strongly correlated with distance from large conspecific trees, with a >30-fold multiplicative increase between recruitment zones that are most distant vs. proximal to conspecific adults. The striking decoupling of sapling recruitment and conspecific seed density patterns indicates near-complete recruitment failure in areas of high seed density located around reproductive adults. Our results provide strong support for the spatially explicit predictions of the Janzen-Connell hypothesis. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Ecology Letters

DOI

EISSN

1461-0248

ISSN

1461-023X

Publication Date

January 1, 2011

Volume

14

Issue

2

Start / End Page

195 / 201

Related Subject Headings

  • Ecology
  • 4104 Environmental management
  • 4102 Ecological applications
  • 3103 Ecology
  • 0603 Evolutionary Biology
  • 0602 Ecology
  • 0501 Ecological Applications
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Swamy, V., Terborgh, J., Dexter, K. G., Best, B. D., Alvarez, P., & Cornejo, F. (2011). Are all seeds equal? Spatially explicit comparisons of seed fall and sapling recruitment in a tropical forest. Ecology Letters, 14(2), 195–201. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01571.x
Swamy, V., J. Terborgh, K. G. Dexter, B. D. Best, P. Alvarez, and F. Cornejo. “Are all seeds equal? Spatially explicit comparisons of seed fall and sapling recruitment in a tropical forest.” Ecology Letters 14, no. 2 (January 1, 2011): 195–201. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01571.x.
Swamy V, Terborgh J, Dexter KG, Best BD, Alvarez P, Cornejo F. Are all seeds equal? Spatially explicit comparisons of seed fall and sapling recruitment in a tropical forest. Ecology Letters. 2011 Jan 1;14(2):195–201.
Swamy, V., et al. “Are all seeds equal? Spatially explicit comparisons of seed fall and sapling recruitment in a tropical forest.” Ecology Letters, vol. 14, no. 2, Jan. 2011, pp. 195–201. Scopus, doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01571.x.
Swamy V, Terborgh J, Dexter KG, Best BD, Alvarez P, Cornejo F. Are all seeds equal? Spatially explicit comparisons of seed fall and sapling recruitment in a tropical forest. Ecology Letters. 2011 Jan 1;14(2):195–201.
Journal cover image

Published In

Ecology Letters

DOI

EISSN

1461-0248

ISSN

1461-023X

Publication Date

January 1, 2011

Volume

14

Issue

2

Start / End Page

195 / 201

Related Subject Headings

  • Ecology
  • 4104 Environmental management
  • 4102 Ecological applications
  • 3103 Ecology
  • 0603 Evolutionary Biology
  • 0602 Ecology
  • 0501 Ecological Applications