Low mortality in tall tropical trees

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dc.contributor.authorThomas, R. Quinnen
dc.contributor.authorKellner, J. R.en
dc.contributor.authorClark, D. B.en
dc.contributor.authorPeart, D. R.en
dc.contributor.departmentForest Resources and Environmental Conservationen
dc.date.accessed2014-01-08en
dc.date.accessioned2014-01-10T20:07:56Zen
dc.date.available2014-01-10T20:07:56Zen
dc.date.issued2013-04en
dc.description.abstractThe dynamics of the tallest trees in tropical forests are of special interest due to their carbon content, canopy dominance, and the large canopy gaps created when they die. Known ecological mechanisms that may influence tall tree survival lead to conflicting predictions. Hydraulic stress and exposure to high winds and desiccation should increase death rates, yet the tallest trees have the greatest access to light and escape damage caused by falling boles and branches. The uncertainty in tall tree mortality rates has been difficult to address due to their low density, which makes mortality rates challenging to estimate accurately. Here, we use a combination of LiDAR remote sensing and field measurements to show that the mortality rate over 8.5 years among individuals >40 m tall in 444 ha of lowland Neotropical rain forest was 1.2% per year, less than half the landscape-scale average for all canopy trees (2.7% per year). The low mortality is likely explained by species-specific traits that decrease the mortality risk and/or ecological advantages of height that outweigh the risks. Regardless of the mechanisms, the low mortality rate has important implications for tropical forest carbon budgets, as we estimated that a single tall individual represents 2-11% of total live aboveground carbon stocks per hectare. Our findings suggest that height-specific dynamics may be surprisingly different from traditional diameter-specific dynamics, emphasizing the importance of extending ecological studies to investigate the role of tree height in forest dynamics.en
dc.description.sponsorshipNew Hampshire NASA Spaceen
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Science Foundation TREES LTREB DEB-0640206en
dc.description.sponsorshipNSF LTREB 0841872en
dc.description.sponsorshipGordon and Betty Moore Foundationen
dc.description.sponsorshipNSF SGER 0533575, 0223284en
dc.description.sponsorshipNASA, the University of Maryland, TEAM, and the University of Alberta (Arturo Sanchez)en
dc.identifier.citationR. Q. Thomas, J. R. Kellner, D. B. Clark, and D. R. Peart 2013. Low mortality in tall tropical trees. Ecology 94:920–929. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/12-0939.1en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1890/12-0939.1en
dc.identifier.issn0012-9658en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/24804en
dc.identifier.urlhttp://www.esajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1890/12-0939.1en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherEcological Society of Americaen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectcarbon cyclingen
dc.subjectdynamicsen
dc.subjectLiDARen
dc.subjectmortalityen
dc.subjectremote sensingen
dc.subjecttropicalen
dc.subjectforesten
dc.subjectneotropical rain-foresten
dc.subjectbig treesen
dc.subjectgrowthen
dc.subjectheighten
dc.subjectdynamicsen
dc.subjectcanopyen
dc.subjectlandscapeen
dc.subjectdroughten
dc.subjectbiomassen
dc.subjectlimitsen
dc.subjectEnvironmental Sciences & Ecologyen
dc.titleLow mortality in tall tropical treesen
dc.title.serialEcologyen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden

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