Barriers to Forest Regeneration in an Abandoned Pasture in Puerto Rico

By J. Zimmerman, J. Pascarella, T. Mitchell Aide. 2000

292 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Sources of forest regeneration (soil seed bank, seed rain) and barriers to seedling establishment were examined in a recently abandoned pasture in eastern Puerto Rico. Few woody species were found in the soil seed bank or in the seed rain. The number of seeds and species in the seed rain and soil seed bank declined with distance from the adjacent secondary forest. Nine species naturally dispersed and colonized plots during the study, with the wind‐dispersed tree Tabebuia heterophylla being the predominant colonizer (91% of all seedlings). Barriers to seedling establishment were determined using a blocked field experiment with eleven woody species representative of a variety of life histories. Each species was planted under the pasture vegetation (control) or in areas where all vegetation was removed (removal). Germination was enhanced for four species in the control treatment, five species were not affected, and two species did not germinate under either treatment. Survival to 6 months was higher in the removal treatment for two species. Seedling biomass was greater in the removal treatment at 12 months for one species. Seed mass was a good predictor of germination success and final shoot biomass, but not survival. This study demonstrates that seeding recently abandoned pastures with a mix of known pioneer species may accelerate the rate of secondary succession, but some species will have to be planted in later successional stages in order to overcome strong barriers to establishment.

Subfields: Ecology, Forestry, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/944e071dc02e71f5da40ace3f682776be7f9da34

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Citations in the corpus

Barriers to forest regeneration of deforested and abandoned land in Panama (2005, background): “This may result from dispersal limitations, for example Zimmerman et al. (2000) document a negative effect of distance from the forest on species richness of seed rain, and Duncan & Chapman (1999) report a low proportion of forest species in oldfield seed rain, despite close proximity to primary…”
Direct seeding of late-successional trees to restore tropical montane forest (2011, background): “The lack of natural recruitment of these species has led to concerns over their persistence in fragmented and degraded landscapes, and more aggressive restoration efforts such as enrichment planting have been suggested as a necessary step to augment severely dispersal-limited species in future fores”
Does Restoration Enhance Regeneration of Seasonal Deciduous Forests in Pastures in Central Brazil? (2007, background): “Morong and Guazuma ulmifolia Lam. may remain viable in the soil and germinate in the future (Nepstad et al. 1996; Zimmerman et al. 2000; Camargo et al. 2002), but other species may have germinated and the seedlings died during the dry season (Cabin et al. 2002).”
FACTORS AFFECTING COMMUNITY COMPOSITION OF FOREST REGENERATION IN DEFORESTED, ABANDONED LAND IN PANAMA (2004, background): “Insufficient seed dispersal is therefore a major factor impeding tropical secondary forest regeneration at many neotropical sites (Uhl et al. 1988, Aide and Cavelier 1994, Holl 1999, Holl et al. 2000, Wijdeven and Kuzee 2000, Zimmerman et al. 2000).”
Principles of Natural Regeneration of Tropical Dry Forests for Restoration (2006, background): “Wind-dispersed seeds arrive in higher density than vertebrate-dispersed seeds up to a few hundred meters from the source of propagules (Willson & Crome 1989; Zimmerman et al. 2000; Cubiña & Aide 2001).”
Direct seeding to restore rainforest species: Microsite effects on the early establishment and growth of rainforest tree seedlings on degraded land in the wet tropics of Australia (2006, background): “high soil temperatures (Zimmerman et al., 2000)).”
Effects of light, alien grass, and native species additions on hawaiian dry forest restoration (2002, background): “…studies have shown that poor seed dispersal (particularly of animal-dispersed species) into open disturbed areas is often a major limiting factor in the recovery of degraded tropical forests (e.g., Janzen 1988b, Aide and Cavelier 1994, Nepstad et al. 1996, Holl et al. 2000, Zimmerman et al. 2000).”
Facilitating natural regeneration in Saccharum spontaneum (L.) grasslands within the Panama Canal Watershed: effects of tree species and tree structure on vegetation recruitment patterns (2004, background): “…of shade-tolerant tree species by reducing competition (Aide et al., 1995; Carnevale and Montagnini, 2002; Guariguata et al., 1995; Hooper et al., 2002; Zimmerman et al., 2000), high soil moisture (Ashton et al., 1997), or through some other mechanism (Holl, 1998; Guariguata and Pinard, 1998).”
Novel ecosystems: theoretical and management aspects of the new ecological world order (2006, unknown): “Puerto Rico’s ‘new’ forests Regenerating forests on degraded lands, composed largely of non-native species and exhibiting multiple successional pathways Aide et al., 1996; Zimmerman et al., 2000; Lugo, 2004”
Restoring tropical diversity: beating the time tax on species loss (2003, background): “Low rates of colonization and emergence, and high mortality of seeds and seedlings, result in low densities and diversities of tree juveniles and saplings (Uhl, Buschbacher & Serrao 1988; Nepstad et al . 1996; Zimmerman, Pascarella & Aide 2000 ).”
Natural Regeneration in Plantations of Native Trees in Lowland Brazilian Atlantic Forest: Community Structure, Diversity, and Dispersal Syndromes (2011, background): “…in degraded lands are related to seed bank losses (Holl et al. 2000), fruit-dispersal limitation (Aide & Cavalier 1994; Wijdeven & Kuzee 2000), high seed predation (Holl & Lulow 1997), soil nutrient reduction (Buschbacher et al. 1988; Holl 1999), and weed competition (Zimmerman et al. 2000).”
Role of nurse plants in Araucaria Forest expansion over grassland in south Brazil (2006, background): “Other authors have stressed the major role played by nurse plants as perches used by seed dispersal birds (Uhl 1987; Guevara et al. 1992; McClanahan & Wolfe 1993; Toh et al. 1999; Galindo-Gonzalez et al. 2000; Slocum & Horwitz 2000; Zimmerman et al. 2000; Aukema & Martinez-del Rio 2002; Holl 2002;”