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Biogeosciences Discuss., 6, 3133-3158, 2009
www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/6/3133/2009/ doi:10.5194/bgd-6-3133-2009 © Author(s) 2009. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. |
Liana infestation impacts tree growth in a lowland tropical moist forest
Ecology and Global Change, School of Geography, University of Leeds, UK
Abstract. Stand-level estimates of the effect of lianas on tree growth in mature tropical forests are needed to evaluate the functional impact of lianas and their potential to affect the ability of tropical forests to sequester carbon, but these are currently lacking. Using data collected on tree growth rates, local growing conditions and liana competition in five permanent sampling plots in Amazonian Peru, we present the first such estimates of the effect of lianas on above-ground productivity of trees. By constructing a multi-level linear mixed effect model to predict individual tree diameter growth model using individual tree growth conditions, we were able to estimate stand-level above-ground biomass (AGB) increment in the absence of lianas. We show that lianas, mainly by competing above-ground with trees, reduce tree annual above-ground stand-level biomass by ~10%, equivalent to 0.51 Mg dry weight ha−1 yr−1 or 0.25 Mg C ha−1 yr−1. AGB increment of lianas themselves was estimated to be 0.15 Mg dry weight ha−1 yr−1 or 0.07 Mg C ha−1 yr−1, thus only compensating ~29% of the liana-induced reduction in stand-level AGB increment. Increasing liana pressure on tropical forests may therefore not only reduce their carbon storage capacity, by indirectly promoting tree species with low-density wood, but also their rate of carbon uptake, with potential consequences for the rate of increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Citation: van der Heijden, G. M. F. and Phillips, O. L.: Liana infestation impacts tree growth in a lowland tropical moist forest, Biogeosciences Discuss., 6, 3133-3158, doi:10.5194/bgd-6-3133-2009, 2009.