ibclogo XVI International Botanical Congess


Abstract Number: 3099
Poster No. = 1544


LIFE TABLE RESPONSE EXPERIMENTS IN A TROPICAL DRY FOREST TREE SPECIES


Sloan, Steven A. Dept. of Biology, University of Puerto Rico


A demographic study was conducted to determine factors that limit growth and reproduction in Plumeria alba, a small tree common in the dry forests of Puerto Rico. Rainfall is limiting 10 months of the year and a sphinxmoth larvae annually defoliates most P. alba. Life table response experiments involving resource limitation and herbivory were conducted in conjunction with demographic monitoring to determine if or to what degree these factors affect the growth rate of P. alba populations. Watering experiments indicate that trees receiving an additional 19 liters of water per month grow faster than control or water limited trees. During a 10 month period, 37.5% of 40 P. alba trees were completely defoliated, at least once, by moth larvae. These data will be used to parameterize a matrix model that will assess the effect of each factor on the growth rate of the P. alba population.


HTML-Version made 7. July 1999 by Kurt Stüber