Tropical forests possess the most diverse plant communities on earth. How hundreds of similar species can coexist, without a few dominant species outcompeting all others, is a major unresolved question in ecology. Processes occurring early in a tree?s life are thought to be critical for allowing such large numbers of species to coexist. This project extends a twelve-year study that tests multiple hypotheses proposed to explain plant species coexistence through long-term measurements of seedlings and saplings in lowland tropical forest on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. The fate of over 100,000 seedlings of 350 tree, shrub and woody vine species will be followed within a mapped forest inventory plot.
Tropical forests provide critical ecosystem services upon which humans depend, but nonetheless are being lost at an alarming rate. Results from this study will help to predict and to mitigate the effects of global change on forests and their critical ecosystem services. Data collected on regeneration requirements for hundreds of tropical plant species will be useful in silviculture, forest management and biodiversity conservation. The project promotes international scientific collaboration and provides training and jobs for undergraduate and graduate students and early career biologists.
