Secondary succession was studied in a Mexican cloud forest region along a chronosequence of 15 abandoned pastures (0.25–80 y). Our objective was to determine the effects of distance from the forest border on successional vegetation structure and woody species richness along the chronosequence. Vegetation structure similar to that of mature forests recovered over 40–50 y, both close to (0–10 m) and away from (40–50 m) the border. Total woody species richness was similar for both distances but species composition differed significantly. When primary forest species were analysed separately, basal area, height, abundance and richness were all significantly higher close to the forest border. Primary species such as Quercus spp. (barochorous-synzoochorous) and Carpinus caroliniana (anemochorous) had lower basal area, density and height away from the border than close to it. Secondary species such as Lippia myriocephala (anemochorous) and Myrsine coriacea (endozoochorous) did not differ in their rate of colonization between distances. The limitation of seed dispersal and establishment for primary woody species away from forest borders suggests that propagules need to be introduced to accelerate forest restoration.

In tropical West Africa, distribution patterns of forest islands in savannas are influenced by fires which occur regularly in the grass stratum. Along continuous forest–savanna transects in the Comoé National Park, the change in the amount and composition of non-woody phytomass was investigated from savanna to forest interior. This was correlated with the cover of vegetation strata above, soil depth, and the occurrence of seasonal surface fires. Phytomass mainly consisted of leaf litter in the forests (about 400 g m−2 at the end of the rainy season, and about 600 g m−2 at the end of the dry season) and of grasses in the savanna (about 900 g m−2). Low grass biomass appeared to be primarily the result of suppression by competing woody species and not of shallow soil. The occurrence of early dry-season fires seemed to be determined mainly by the amount of grass biomass as fuel because fires occurred in almost all savanna plots while forest sites remained unaffected. However, late dry-season fires will encounter higher amounts of leaf litter raising fire probability in forests. Due to the importance of the amount of combustible phytomass, fire probability and intensity might increase with annual precipitation in both savanna and forest.

Nutrient resorption efficiency of woody plants, litterfall and nutrient fluxes were investigated in a burned and an unburned cerrado plot between October 1997 and September 1999. A large experiment (Fire Project, Brasília, Brazil) on the effects of prescribed burnings was initiated in 1992. Cerrado plots were delimited and subjected to different fire regimes. Seasonal trend of litterfall was similar in both plots but the production in the burned plot was 42.2 g m−2 y−1 before the fourth prescribed fire (September 1998) and decreased by 22% 1 y after burning while in the unburned plot it was around 230 gm−2 y−1. Although nutrient concentrations in leaf litter were higher in the burned plot, the nutrient fluxes were 60–80% lower than in the unburned plot. Nutrient use efficiency (ecosystem level) was 4373 for P and 137 for N. Measured resorption efficiency for 10 cerrado species ranged from 14.5 to 37.2% for N and from 40 to 70.4% for P and in general, there were no differences between plots. N is in short supply, partly because of fire history, but the results, both at ecosystem and species levels (mean N/P in fresh leaves was 18), indicated a stronger limitation by P than by N.

This study investigated the nutritional ecology of forest elephants in Kibale National Park, Uganda relative to crop-raiding behaviour, and examined nutritional differences between crops and food consumed by wild elephants. An index of dietary nutrient concentration was determined by quantifying the species and parts of plants consumed along feeding trails, collecting food items, and analysing foods for energy, fibre, protein, minerals and secondary compounds. Frequency of crop raiding was quantified over 13 mo. Energy and protein concentration was within suggested levels, but concentrations of several minerals, particularly sodium, were low relative to requirements based on captive elephants and values reported for other wild populations. The very low sodium concentrations of Kibale elephant diets and low availability of alternative sodium sources, such as soil or water, suggest that sodium drive is very likely in this population. Crops consumed by Kibale elephants had higher Na concentrations and lower concentrations of fibre and secondary compounds than wild diets. The known attraction of elephants to mineral sources throughout their range and the low mineral concentration of leaves, fruits, bark, and stems consumed by forest elephant in this study suggest that mineral nutrition is likely to be an important factor driving elephant behaviour and patterns of habitat use.

‘Size matching’ of forager size and prey size is an ecological mechanism that should partition diets both within ant colonies and ensembles. We studied the relationship between ant body size and food size in tropical leaf-litter ant ensembles at different levels. In three plots of primary rain forest in Sabah, Malaysia, we observed altogether 50 species of 18 genera of ants (e.g. Pheidole, Recurvidris, Lophomyrmex, Paratrechina, Odontoponera) that harvested seed particles from baits of milled rice of various particle size. At colony level ‘size matching’ of individual foragers with their load was found only in one of 12 tested species, viz. Pheidole lucioccipitalis. However, ant species differed considerably with respect to ‘seed’ size used: on average, foragers of larger species transported significantly larger ‘seed’ fragments. This was highly significant in a subset of ant species with at least 12 records of size choice per species. But when we investigated resource partitioning within each of the three ant ensembles with a null model, analysis proved that there was a significant overlap in seed size selection of species at two of the sites, thus indicating that food size choice of foragers had little influence on niche patterns and community structure of ants. Ant species with workers that were not matched with their seed resources (viz. Oligomyrmex or Pheidologeton) engaged in cooperative ‘seed’ transport, mass recruitment to and in situ mastication of rice fragments. Mean ‘seed’ transport distance was 38.4 cm.

A recently developed technique in soil ecology is the use of the bait lamina method, for assessing the feeding activity of soil animals in situ. Here the bait lamina method (slightly adapted to tropical conditions) was used for the comparison of four closely situated sites (a primary rain forest, a secondary rain forest and two mixed-species tree plantations) in the Brazilian Amazon (project SHIFT ENV-52). The total feeding activity (portion of empty apertures in a set of laminae) and the vertical distribution of the feeding activity were evaluated for differences between the sites. The feeding activities in the primary and secondary forest were at the same level and significantly lower than in the two plantations. Feeding activity in subplots where surface litter has been experimentally removed was significantly lower than in the controls with the litter layer intact, at all four sites. The abundance of soil macrofauna or Enchytraeidae was not correlated with the results of the bait lamina tests, while the abundance of mesofauna (probably mainly Oribatida) was consistent with the pattern of feeding activity. The feeding activities as determined with bait laminae did not correlate with the decomposition activities determined with litterbags. Due to the easy applicability in combination with its feasibility for statistical evaluation and its consistent responses to site differences in experimental treatments we consider the bait lamina method to be a promising approach for the biological assessment of tropical soils.

The objective of this study was to analyse the factors explaining spatial variation in soil respiration over topographic transects in a tropical rain forest of French Guiana. The soil of 30 plots along six transects was characterized. The appearance of the ‘dry to the touch’ character at a depth of less than 1.2 m was used to discriminate soils exhibiting vertical drainage from soils exhibiting superficial lateral drainage and along with colour and texture, to define five classes from well-drained to strongly hydromorphic soils. Spatial variation in soil respiration was closely related to topographic position and soil type. Increasing soil water content and bulk density and decreasing root biomass and soil carbon content explained most of the decrease in soil respiration from the plateaux (vertically drained hypoferralic acrisol) to the bottomlands (haplic gleysol). These results will help to stratify further field experiments and to identify the underlying determinants of spatial variation in soil respiration to develop mechanistic models of soil respiration.

In contrast to their well-studied counterparts in the Neotropics and in Asia, East African montane rain forests are surrounded by semi-arid savanna plains. These plains have a high erosion potential for salt crusts accumulated at the soil surface. Hence it may be hypothesized that East African montane forest ecosystems experience strongly enhanced nutrient inputs via dry deposition, which alters their overall biogeochemistry. The aim of our study was to test this hypothesis by investigating K, Mg, Ca, Na and N-forms in rainfall, throughfall, fine litter, litter percolate and soil solution of a montane rain forest at Mt. Kilimanjaro. Four forest plots situated at elevations between 2250 and 2350 m asl on the south-western slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro were studied for 2 y. In contradiction to our hypothesis, inputs of K, Mg, Ca and Na via rainfall (7.5, 0.9, 2.3 and 6.2kg ha−1y−1) and throughfall (35, 2.0, 3.5 and 11kg ha−1−1) were low on Mt. Kilimanjaro. Fluxes of NH4-N and NO3-N were within the range observed at other montane rain forests, with NO3-N being the only nutrient partly absorbed in the forest canopies (2.9kg ha−1y−1 in rainfall, 0.9kg ha−1y−1 in throughfall). The highest overall nutrient concentrations in water samples occurred in litter percolate (1.4mg l−1 K, 0.3mg l−1 Mg, 0.8mg l−1 Ca, 0.3mg l−1 NH4-N, 0.9mg l−1 NO3-N), with values still being low compared to other sites. Nutrient concentrations in seepage water strongly declined with increasing soil depth. Thus, both inputs and losses of base cations from the forest by water pathways are assumed to be low. N or P limitation of growth is not expected since high fluxes of N and P in fine litter (119 and 5.9kg ha−1y−1 for N and P respectively) indicate low within-stand efficiency.

In a local biodiversity inventory the locally rare species are of particular importance. The main problem of sample-based inventories is that many species are so rare that they will not be observed. The observed frequencies of species in the sample provide an estimate of the species proportion in the population. This may be used to estimate the number of species which exist in the population, but which were not observed in the sample (shadow species). This non-parametric approach provides an unbiased estimate of the relative frequency distribution of the species in the population, which differs very significantly from the sample distribution, particularly for the rare species. The approach leads to a new and ecologically meaningful estimator of the Rényi–Hill generalized species diversity measure, which includes species abundance, the Shannon–Weaver and Simpson's diversity measures, amongst others. The use of the estimator is illustrated on data from a biodiversity inventory of trees on a 3-ha forest sample plot in Sumatra.

We used regression models and information-theoretic model selection to assess the relative importance of environment, local dispersal and historical contingency as controls of the distributions of 26 common plant species in tropical forest on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama. We censused eighty-eight 0.09-ha plots scattered across the landscape. Environmental control, local dispersal and historical contingency were represented by environmental variables (soil moisture, slope, soil type, distance to shore, old-forest presence), a spatial autoregressive parameter (ρ), and four spatial trend variables, respectively. We built regression models, representing all combinations of the three hypotheses, for each species. The probability that the best model included the environmental variables, spatial trend variables and ρ averaged 33%, 64% and 50% across the study species, respectively. The environmental variables, spatial trend variables, ρ, and a simple intercept model received the strongest support for 4, 15, 5 and 2 species, respectively. Comparing the model results to information on species traits showed that species with strong spatial trends produced few and heavy diaspores, while species with strong soil moisture relationships were particularly drought-sensitive. In conclusion, history and local dispersal appeared to be the dominant controls of the distributions of common plant species on BCI.

The effects of N, P, NP and NPKS application on plant growth, above-ground primary production and N and P accumulation in the above-ground biomass of a flooded savanna were assessed over two growth cycles. Application of N or P did not improve plant growth and primary production, addition of NP had a noticeable effect, whereas NPKS fertilization led to a three-fold increase in plant production. The four most important grasses in the analysed ecosystem responded to nutrient application with increasing growth, indicating that they all are constrained by nutrient availability, but each species exhibited a different seasonal growth pattern suggesting a temporal division of nutrient resources. N accumulated in the harvested biomass during the growth season was 50% above that of control plants when NP was applied and showed a four-fold increase when NPKS was added. With NP addition, in 2 mo plants accumulated three times more P in the harvested biomass than the control plants. The maximum N accumulated during the growth season in the NPKS treatment represented half the fertilizer N, and probably all the N added (15 g m−2) may have been used if the whole biomass had been considered. With the rather small amounts of P added to the soil in the P treatment (2 g m−2), the maximum amount of P accumulated after 2 mo scarcely represented 13% of the added P, suggesting that most of the fertilizer P became rapidly immobilized or sorbed, not being available to plants in the short term. However, the increasing growth rates of grasses during the following 7 mo indicate that some P fluxed from these pools to the soil solution and to plants.

In this paper, the ecological relationships and the resource partitioning patterns in a two-species system of sympatric aquatic snakes (Grayia smythii and Afronatrix anoscopus) from a riverine forest area in southern Nigeria, West Africa, were tested. The monthly availability of their food resources in the field, and the monthly variation in the feeding relationships between these snakes and their preys, were also studied. Food items of 1245 snakes, i.e. 554 Grayia smythii, and 691 Afronatrix anoscopus, were examined. The mean body length of Grayia smythii was significantly larger than that of Afronatrix anoscopus in any interspecific comparison, i.e. males versus males, females versus females, and females versus males; however, in both species the females attained significantly larger body sizes than the males. 676 prey items were obtained from the stomachs of Afronatrix anoscopus, and 390 from those of Grayia smythii. Both species of snake exhibited an increased activity in the open during the wet months, and this increased activity was positively correlated to the higher abundance of prey during the wet season. In both species the diet consisted of a great variety of different amphibian and fish species. Direct interference competition was not observed. The month-by-month dietary patterns exhibited by the two snake species were similar. Mean prey size was significantly larger in the larger species, and the difference in prey size between the two snake species increased during the dry season, i.e. during the period of reduced prey availability. The monthly availability of the three main food types for these snakes varied, and were significantly more abundant during the wet season (April–September). A positive relationship between prey availability and prey use by snakes strongly suggests that the two snake species are predatory generalists, utilizing prey in relation to their abundance in the field.

Comparisons of sympatric reptile species were used to assess the variation in niche overlap for food between potential competitors at different trophic levels. Omnivorous tortoises and carnivorous vipers inhabiting the rain-forest region of West Africa were used as study models. Food niche overlap between species increased with habitat alteration in both the independent study systems: tortoises (Kinixys homeana and Kinixys erosa) and vipers (Bitis gabonica and Bitis nasicornis) showed lower values of Pianka's niche overlap index in the pristine habitat than in the altered habitat, and these differences in overlap values did not depend on chance after Monte Carlo simulations. There were higher inter-habitat food niche overlaps within-species than between-species. Permutation tests (assessed after 5000 iterations) revealed that, for both study systems, the P-values became significantly smaller with fewer resource states, thus showing the niche overlap between species really increases after habitat alteration. The observed increases in food niche overlap between species accomplished with rain-forest habitat degradation in turn may be predicted to have cumulative effects on reducing the level of forest biodiversity.

According to the Janzen–Connell model, host-specific natural enemies can promote species coexistence of canopy trees in tropical forests by attacking progeny where they are most concentrated. However, empirical evidence relating negative density-dependent mortality to herbivory and, in particular, attack by specialist herbivores, remains rare. We investigated density dependence in a natural population of Swietenia macrophylla in a south-eastern Amazon forest of Brazil. Across 24 adult trees, we found that initial juvenile densities were positively correlated with basal area of adult conspecifics whereas subsequent survivorship over 1 y for these juveniles declined strongly with increasing basal area of adult conspecifics. For 18 trees with > 5 juveniles surviving for 1 y, further evidence supporting the Janzen–Connell mechanism was obtained in that leaf herbivory and attack by a specialist microlepidopteran moth (Steniscadia poliophaea) increased, and overall foliar condition decreased, with conspecific basal area. Moreover, when differences in mean juvenile size (number of extant leaves) were accounted for, juvenile survival over 1 y decreased with increased specialist leaf herbivory. Collectively, these results indicate that herbivores, in particular S. poliophaea, may contribute to density dependence among S. macrophylla juveniles. We conclude that the survival of juveniles and their probability of recruitment into the canopy is decreased where conspecific adults are largest and/or most numerous and find support for the importance of host-specific pests in driving density dependence among tropical trees.

We investigate a hypothesis for explaining maintenance of forest canopy dominance: bamboo (Guadua weberbaueri and Guadua sarcocarpa) loads and crushes trees, resulting in a self-perpetuating disturbance cycle. Forest inventory data revealed a peculiar pattern of tree form and size class distribution in bamboo-dominated plots within the Tambopata River watershed, Madre de Dios, Peru. Bamboo disproportionately loaded trees 5–29 cm in diameter, and this size class had over seven times more canopy damage than trees in control plots without bamboo. These differences were accompanied by reduced tree basal area and tree density in the 5–29-cm-diameter size class in the presence of bamboo. Elevated tree canopy damage was not apparent for trees ≥30 cm dbh, which are beyond the reach of bamboo. Additional evidence for the impact of bamboo was revealed by an experiment using artificial metal trees. Artificial trees in bamboo-dominated forest plots had nine times higher frequency of physical damage and nine times more plant mass loading as compared with control plots. Our results support the hypothesis that bamboo loading causes elevated physical damage to trees and suppresses tree recruitment, particularly for trees 5–29 cm in diameter.

The temporal pattern of reproduction and its consequences for age structure and density were investigated in a population of the gracile mouse opossum Gracilinanus microtarsus in south-eastern Brazil. Individuals of G. microtarsus were monitored through capture–mark–recapture methods from August 2000 to February 2003 in a remnant of cerradão, a forest-like physiognomy of the highly seasonal cerrado biome. The temporal pattern of reproduction of the population studied was highly seasonal with rearing of the offspring occurring in the first half of the warm-wet season, when the abundance of food resources – primarily insects – in the cerrado is high. Shortly after reproduction, the density of adults decreased sharply, possibly because of high post-mating mortality, leading to a gradual replacement of adults by their offspring in the following months and little overlap of generations. Our data suggest that climatic and environmental factors affect the onset of reproduction and interact with endogenous factors that decrease post-mating survival to produce the observed pattern of seasonal variation in age structure and density. It is suggested that the dynamics of populations of G. microtarsus may be driven primarily by food limitation and that long-term studies are needed to understand its feedback structure.

In a subtropical montane forest of north-western Argentina (27°S, 1000 m elevation), we analysed the effect of crown illumination, trunk diameter, foliar phenology and tree species identity as determinants of liana–host tree associations, as well as the spatial pattern of liana abundance in a 6-ha permanent plot. We recorded 2346 liana individuals ≥ 2 cm and 2320 trees ≥ 10 cm dbh. Sixty-five per cent of the trees hosted at least one liana stem. Large and well-lit trees were more likely to support lianas and supported more liana abundance than small and shaded trees. Yet, when trees were standardized by their size (liana basal area/tree basal area ratio), lianas were more abundant in smaller and less-exposed trees. Foliar phenology and tree species identity showed no association with the frequency of liana colonization and their abundance. Overall, tree features played a minor or even neutral role in structuring the liana community within this forest. Instead, lianas showed a positive autocorrelation at spatial scales up to 40 m. This suggests that lianas might be mostly structured by light-and dispersal-related factors such as those involving canopy access or canopy disturbances, with a negligible effect of host species identity and foliar phenology.

We studied oribatid (Acari: Oribatida) communities in two distinct microhabitats (litter and root) of the bird's nest fern (Asplenium nidus) in an approximately 4-ha area in a subtropical forest, Okinawa, Japan. We collected a total of 15 729 oribatid mites from 37 ferns and examined whether the size and height of the ferns and the distance between ferns affected the structure of the oribatid communities in terms of the species composition, number of individuals, density (individuals per 100 g dry wt of substrate), number of species and species diversity (Simpson's index). Oribatid communities differed significantly in species composition and density between litter and root components and were evenly distributed horizontally throughout the plot. The density of oribatid mites in the litter decreased significantly with increasing height of the ferns, and the species composition and the numbers of individuals and species in the litter were affected by fern size. Our results suggest that the litter and root of bird's nest ferns allowed diverse oribatid communities to become established, and variations in size and height of the ferns may help to maintain or enhance the diversity of oribatid communities in bird's nest ferns in subtropical forests.

We studied the spatial and temporal habitat use of impala in Botswana's Okavango Delta at landscape level with the aid of satellite imagery, with minimal fieldwork. We related remotely sensed vegetation to impala habitat preferences, by first distinguishing three vegetation types through a multi-temporal classification, and dividing these into subclasses on the basis of their Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). This indicator for abundance and greenness of biomass was assessed for wet and dry season separately. Similarly, habitat use was assessed for both seasons by allocating vegetation classes to bimonthly impala observations. Impala distribution patterns coincided with NDVI-based subclasses of the landscape, nested within broad vegetation types, to which impala did not show a marked seasonal response. We suggest that this methodology, using limited field data, offers a functional habitat classification for sedentary herbivores, which appears particularly valuable for application in extensive areas with high spatial variability, but with restricted access.

The species richness, number of plants, biomass, and species composition of holo- and hemi-epiphytes were recorded in fifty-six 0.04-ha plots, distributed over forest fallows of 2–30 y old and mature forests in lowland Amazonia (Amacayacu National Park, Colombia). A total of 9190 epiphytic plants representing 162 species were recorded on 4277 phorophytes. Seventy species were classified as holo-epiphyte and 85 as hemi-epiphyte. Aroids were most diverse (58 species) and represented 76% of the total recorded biomass. Anemochory was more dominant among holo-epiphytes and zoochory among hemi-epiphytes. The species richness, density and biomass of both holo- and hemi-epiphytes increased significantly from young fallows to old fallows and mature forests. Hemi-epiphytes had greater density and biomass than holo-epiphytes. In canonical ordination, forest age did not relate to the species composition of holo-epiphytes. However, for hemi-epiphytes, the age effect was significant, suggesting that species turnover takes place in the ageing fallows.