Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T08:39:03.632Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Leaf production, growth rate, and age of the palm Prestoea montana in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Ariel E. Lugo  and
Carmen T. Rivera Batlle
Ariel E. Lugo
Affiliation:
Institute of Tropical Forestry, Southern Forest Experiment Station, USDA Forest Service, PO Box 25000Rio Piedras, P.R. 00928-2500
Carmen T. Rivera Batlle
Affiliation:
Institute of Tropical Forestry, Southern Forest Experiment Station, USDA Forest Service, PO Box 25000Rio Piedras, P.R. 00928-2500
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Long-term growth rates of 32 palms (Prestoea montana) were studied using height and diameter measurements taken four times between 1946 and 1982. All leaf scars were counted to estimate leaf production rate, and the distance between scars was measured to establish relationships between leaf production and height growth. Height and diameter growth and leaf production of these palms were not constant during this 36-year period. A greater distance between leaf scars was indicative of rapid height growth but not of high leaf production rate. Dominant palms always grew fast (> 20 cm/yr) in height when they were small, but height growth slowed down when they reached the canopy. Small palms with slow height growth remained suppressed and lost the capacity to grow rapidly in height as adults. Diameter growth decreased with age from 0.07 cm/yr (SE = 0.02) between 1946–51 to 0.01 cm/yr (SE = 0.003) between 1951–82. Annual leaf production averaged 4 leaves/yr over the 36 years of study, was significantly different (P = 0.001) between 1946–51 (5.6 leaves/yr) and 1951–82 (3.8 leaves/yr), and was 4.6 leaves/yr for palms that grew >5 m since 1946 and 3.7 leaves/yr for those that remained suppressed. The best estimate for the mean age of all palms was 61.1 yr (SE = 2.4), obtained from long-term population leaf production rates.

Keywords

leaf turnoverLuquillo Mountainspalmsprestoea montanaPuerto ricotree agetree growth
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , May 1987 , pp. 151 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Bannister, B. A. 1970. Ecological life cycle of Euterpe globosa Gaertn. Chapter B–18 in Odum, H. T. & Pigeon, R. F. (eds). A tropical rain forest. US Atomic Energy Commission. NTIS, Springfield, VA.Google Scholar
Bormann, F. H. & Berlyn, G. (eds). 1981. Age and growth rate of tropical trees: new directions for research. (Proceedings of Workshop on Age and growth rate determination for tropical trees, Harvard Forest, Petersham, MA, 1–3 04 1980). Bulletin No. 94, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Ct. 137 pages.Google Scholar
Corner, E. J. H. 1966. The natural history of palms. University of California Press, Berkeley. 393 pages.Google Scholar
Ewel, J. J. & Whitmore, J. R. 1973. The ecological life zones of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Research Paper ITF–18. Institute of Tropical Forestry, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. 72 pages, map.Google Scholar
Frangi, J. L. & Lugo, A. E. 1985. Ecosystem dynamics of a subtropical floodplain forest. Ecological Monographs 55:351–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HallÉ, F., Oldeman, R. A. A. & Tomlinson, P. B. 1978. Tropical trees and forests. An architectural analysis. Springer Verlag, New York. 441 pages.Google Scholar
Holdridge, L. R. 1967. Life zone ecology. Tropical Science Center, San José, Costa Rica. 124 pages.Google Scholar
PiÑero, D., Martinez-Ramos, M.Sarukhan, J. 1984. A population model of Astrocaryum mexicanum and a sensitivity analysis of its finite rate of increase. Journal of Ecology 72:977–991.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SarukhÁN, J. 1978. Studies on the demography of tropical trees. Pp. 163–184 in Tomlinson, P. B. & Zimmermann, H. (eds). Tropical trees as living systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.Google Scholar
Savage, A. J. & Ashton, P. S.1983. The population structure of the double coconut and some other Seychelles palms. Biotropica 15:15–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomlinson, P. B. 1979. Systematics and ecology of the Palmae. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 10:85–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tropical Forest Experiment Station. 1952. Twelfth annual report. Caribbean Forester 13:1–21.Google Scholar
Waterhouse, F. L. S. & Quinn, C. J. 1978. Growth patterns in the stem of the palm Archontophoenix cunninghamiana. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 77:73–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar