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Understanding tropical forest dynamics and planning for their sustainable management require efficient, yet accurate, predictions of the joint dynamics of hundreds of tree species. With increasing information on tropical tree life histories, our predictive understanding is no longer limited by species data but by the ability of existing models to make use of it. Using a demographic forest model, we show that the basal area and compositional changes during forest succession in a neotropical forest can be accurately predicted by representing tropical tree diversity (hundreds of species) with only five functional groups spanning two essential trade-offs—the growth-survival and stature-recruitment trade-offs. This data-driven modeling framework substantially improves our ability to predict consequences of anthropogenic impacts on tropical forests.

ETH Career Seed Award [22-2 Seed 010]; DOB Ecology; Bernina Foundation; Juan de la Cierva Incorporacion - Spanish Ministry of Science [IJC2020-043765-I]; Government of the Asturias Principality (REWILDING project, FEDER, GRUPIN) [AYUD/2021/51261]; Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES); Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, Germany

Frugivory interactions are key plant–animal mutualisms that facilitate seed dispersal and promote ecosystem resilience. However, these interaction networks are increasingly altered by the widespread introduction of non‐native plants through human activities. The integration of such species into frugivory networks—and their consequences for network stability—remains poorly understood. Here, we examined the role of non‐native plants in shaping frugivory network structure and robustness in a human‐modified tropical landscape. Using DNA metabarcoding of faecal samples from 21 frugivorous bird species in Gamboa, Panama, we identified consumed plant species and quantified the contribution of non‐natives to avian diets. Non‐native plants significantly altered network structure, reducing nestedness while increasing connectance and modularity compared to native‐only networks. Extinction simulations revealed that non‐native plants, despite comprising only 28% of plant species, triggered disproportionately higher secondary bird extinctions. Yet, these species showed lower persistence during sequential bird removals, creating a paradox: they act as crucial connectors within the network while simultaneously undermining its stability. Notably, three non‐native species served as key connector species linking network modules. The high connectivity of certain non‐native connector species is particularly concerning given their documented invasive potential in other regions. We anticipate that these findings will inform conservation strategies in human‐modified landscapes, particularly regarding the monitoring and management of highly connected non‐native plants that may both compromise ecosystem stability and facilitate biological invasions. While non‐native plants may provide temporary alternative food resources for adaptable frugivorous birds navigating increasingly human‐modified environments, they simultaneously risk diverting seed dispersers from native plants and undermining long‐term ecosystem integrity. DNA metabarcoding of faecal samples from 21 frugivorous bird species in Gamboa, Panama, was used to assess how non‐native plants influence frugivory network structure. Non‐native species, though comprising only 28% of plants, reduced nestedness, increased connectance and modularity, and caused disproportionately high secondary bird extinctions while showing lower persistence during bird removals. These findings indicate that highly connected non‐native plants can function as key network connectors yet undermine long‐term ecosystem stability, with important implications for conservation and invasive species management.

Scavenging is a widespread feeding strategy involving a diversity of taxa from different trophic levels, from apex predators to obligate scavengers. Scavenger species play a crucial role in ecosystem functioning by removing carcasses, recycling nutrients and preventing disease spread. Understanding the trophic roles of scavenger species can help identify specialized species with unique roles and species that may be more vulnerable to ecological changes. To identify species with specialized roles, we studied three scavenger networks (one in north temperate Spain and two in central‐south Mediterranean Spain) that comprised 25 scavenger species (65% birds and 35% mammals), consuming carcasses of four wild ungulate species. We characterized the trophic role of a species by combining four species‐level network metrics (normalized degree, specialization, closeness, and betweenness centrality) into a single centrality metric, quantifying how scavenger species interact with carcass species within their ecological network. Higher centrality indicates the species feeds on a greater variety of carcasses and may contribute more to carrion consumption than species with lower centrality, which have more peripheral and specialized roles. The griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) and the azure‐winged magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) had the highest centrality. In contrast, the red kite (Milvus milvus) in the northern site had the lowest centrality, and the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) was among the most peripheral species for all three networks. In general, scavengers with large home ranges and nocturnal or crepuscular activity patterns tended to have more central roles, whereas species that forage silently tended to have more peripheral roles. Changes in species' centrality between sites and the high centrality of species with large home ranges suggest that management strategies in one location can have implications that extend beyond, highlighting the need to implement coordinated transboundary protection efforts to ensure the resilience and functionality of scavenger networks and derived ecosystem services. We did not plan for a graphical table of content.

Tropical forest fragmentation creates insular biological communities that undergo species loss and changes in community composition over time, due to area- and edge-effects. Woody lianas thrive in degraded and secondary forests, due to their competitive advantage over trees in these habitats. Lianas compete both directly and indirectly with trees, increasing tree mortality and turnover. Despite our growing understanding of liana-tree dynamics, we lack detailed knowledge of the assemblage-level responses of lianas themselves to fragmentation, particularly in evergreen tropical forests. We examine the responses of both sapling and mature liana communities to landscape-scale forest insularization induced by a mega hydroelectric dam in the Brazilian Amazon. Detailed field inventories were conducted on islands created during reservoir filling, and in nearby mainland continuous forest. We assess the relative importance of variables associated with habitat fragmentation such as area, isolation, surrounding forest cover, fire and wind disturbance, on liana community attributes including abundance, basal area, diversity, and composition. We also explore patterns of liana dominance relative to tree saplings and adults ≥10 cm diameter at breast height. We find that 1) liana community composition remains remarkably similar across mainland continuous forest and islands, regardless of extreme area- and edge- effects and the loss of vertebrate dispersers in the latter; and 2) lianas are increasing in dominance relative to trees in the sapling layer in the most degraded islands, with both the amount of forest cover surrounding islands and fire disturbance history predicting liana dominance. Our data suggest that liana communities persist intact in isolated forests, regardless of extreme area- and edge-effects; while in contrast, tree communities simultaneously show evidence of increased turnover and supressed recruitment. These processes may lead to lianas becoming a dominant component of this dam-induced fragmented landscape in the future, due to their competitive advantage over trees in degraded forest habitats. Additional loss of tree biomass and diversity brought about through competition with lianas, and the concurrent loss of carbon storage, should be accounted for in impact assessments of future dam development.

A life‐history trade‐off between low mortality in the dark and rapid growth in the light is one of the most widely accepted mechanisms underlying plant ecological strategies in tropical forests. Differences in plant functional traits are thought to underlie these distinct ecological strategies; however, very few studies have shown relationships between functional traits and demographic rates within a functional group. We present 8 years of growth and mortality data from saplings of 15 species of Dipterocarpaceae planted into logged‐over forest in Malaysian Borneo, and the relationships between these demographic rates and four key functional traits: wood density, specific leaf area (SLA), seed mass, and leaf C:N ratio. Species‐specific differences in growth rates were separated from seedling size effects by fitting nonlinear mixed‐effects models, to repeated measurements taken on individuals at multiple time points. Mortality data were analyzed using binary logistic regressions in a mixed‐effects models framework. Growth increased and mortality decreased with increasing light availability. Species differed in both their growth and mortality rates, yet there was little evidence for a statistical interaction between species and light for either response. There was a positive relationship between growth rate and the predicted probability of mortality regardless of light environment, suggesting that this relationship may be driven by a general trade‐off between traits that maximize growth and traits that minimize mortality, rather than through differential species responses to light. Our results indicate that wood density is an important trait that indicates both the ability of species to grow and resistance to mortality, but no other trait was correlated with either growth or mortality. Therefore, the growth mortality trade‐off among species of dipterocarp appears to be general in being independent of species crossovers in performance in different light environments. We analysed long term growth and mortality of tropical tree seedlings using non‐linear mixed effects models. We show a strong trade‐off between growth and mortality independent of an interaction between species and light. This trade‐off appears to be associated with wood density such that trees that have denser wood have lower diameter growth rates and lower mortality.

Networks of forest plots are key for documenting how forests are responding to climate change; however, very few plots are in inaccessible locations, and almost no research is carried out in Indigenous territories. We present the first data from a new forest plot co‐developed with the Traditional Emberá Authorities of the Balsa River Collective Lands, Darién, Panama, following a framework of participatory action research: The Bacurú Drõa plot (In Emberá, “Bacurú” is tree and “Drõa” is old, BD). We compare floristic characteristics and conservation status of trees in BD with those of 53 forest plots across Panama. In BD, trees with DBH ≥10 cm were classified in 290 taxonomic units, with 174 (60%) of taxa identified to species, 49 (17%) assigned to genera, and 22 (7.5%) to families, leaving 45 (15.5%) unidentified tree taxa. On a per hectare basis, stem density and species richness differed significantly among plots and groups of plots, both variables being highest in plots located in the Alto Chagres and lowest in the plots located along the Pacific. Estimates of species number for stem density in 1 ha, however, are significantly higher in BD. Conservation value, measured through community weighted mean (CWM) range and CWM International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) score, revealed BD to be of high conservation value when compared to the other ForestGEO plots in Panama. We show that BD has high biodiversity, many singletons, and many unidentified species, consistent with other plots in the Chocó‐Darién Ecoregion, an understudied global biodiversity hotspot. Overall, the Bacurú Drõa plot and surrounding project provide a blueprint on how tropical forest and participatory action research can value and benefit from the contribution of the Indigenous communities that live and conserve the vanishing mature forests of the world while providing sound scientific data. We present the first data from a new forest plot co‐developed with the Traditional Emberá Authorities of the Balsa River Collective Lands, Darién, Panama: The Bacurú Drõa plot. We compare floristic characteristics and conservation status of trees in BD with those of 53 forest plots across Panama. We show how Bacurú Drõa provides a blueprint on how tropical forest research can value and benefit from the contribution of the Indigenous communities that live and conserve the vanishing mature forests of the world.

Secondary tropical forests are increasingly important for their role in the global carbon (C) balance as they can rapidly accumulate aboveground biomass C during regrowth. Substantial amounts of plant-derived carbon are also incorporated into the soil through decomposition processes, but our understanding of soil C dynamics during forest regrowth is limited. Secondary succession is characterised by a shift in tree functional groups from light-demanding to shade-tolerant species over time, which can influence rates of C turnover via differences in litter quality and by modifying the decomposition environment. Changes in decomposition processes in turn affect the amount of organic C stored in the soil or released to the atmosphere as CO 2 . Consequently, understanding how tree functional composition influences C turnover during decomposition could help us predict soil C storage during tropical forest regrowth. We experimentally explored the relationship between tree functional groups and soil C dynamics (decomposition and respiration) by conducting a litter decomposition experiment across a successional gradient of naturally regenerating tropical forest. We created litter mixtures representing tree communities differing in their shade tolerance, as well as a functionally diverse litter mixture, and observed litter mass loss and soil respiration as measures of C turnover over a 6 month period. Litter from light-demanding species decomposed faster than litter from shade-tolerant species, which was reflected in the pattern of soil respiration. There were no clear patterns of increasing or decreasing rates of litter decay or soil respiration with increasing forest age, but there was an interaction between stand age and litter type which influenced both decomposition and soil respiration rates. Interestingly, soil respiration from the functionally diverse litter mixture was significantly higher in the younger than older forest stands, and the functionally diverse litter mixture decayed more rapidly than expected in one of the younger stands. Our findings highlight the potential importance of functionally diverse plant inputs, as well as the interaction between local environmental attributes and litter type, for soil C dynamics in tropical forests.

An analysis of above-ground biomass recovery during secondary succession in forest sites and plots, covering the major environmental gradients in the Neotropics. Recovery potential of disturbed tropical forests More than half the world's tropical forests are the product of secondary growth, following anthropogenic disturbance. It is therefore important to know how quickly these secondary forests recover sufficiently to provide ecosystem services equivalent to those of old-growth forest. These authors focus on carbon sequestration in Neotropical forests, and find that carbon uptake is much higher than in old-growth forest, allowing recovery to 90% of the carbon stocks in an average of 66 years, but there is also wide variation in recovery potential. This knowledge could help assess the implications of forest loss — and potential for recovery — in different areas. Land-use change occurs nowhere more rapidly than in the tropics, where the imbalance between deforestation and forest regrowth has large consequences for the global carbon cycle 1 . However, considerable uncertainty remains about the rate of biomass recovery in secondary forests, and how these rates are influenced by climate, landscape, and prior land use 2 , 3 , 4 . Here we analyse aboveground biomass recovery during secondary succession in 45 forest sites and about 1,500 forest plots covering the major environmental gradients in the Neotropics. The studied secondary forests are highly productive and resilient. Aboveground biomass recovery after 20 years was on average 122 megagrams per hectare (Mg ha −1 ), corresponding to a net carbon uptake of 3.05 Mg C ha −1  yr −1 , 11 times the uptake rate of old-growth forests. Aboveground biomass stocks took a median time of 66 years to recover to 90% of old-growth values. Aboveground biomass recovery after 20 years varied 11.3-fold (from 20 to 225 Mg ha −1 ) across sites, and this recovery increased with water availability (higher local rainfall and lower climatic water deficit). We present a biomass recovery map of Latin America, which illustrates geographical and climatic variation in carbon sequestration potential during forest regrowth. The map will support policies to minimize forest loss in areas where biomass resilience is naturally low (such as seasonally dry forest regions) and promote forest regeneration and restoration in humid tropical lowland areas with high biomass resilience.

One-third of all Neotropical forests are secondary forests that regrow naturally after agricultural use through secondary succession. We need to understand better how and why succession varies across environmental gradients and broad geographic scales. Here, we analyze functional recovery using community data on seven plant characteristics (traits) of 1,016 forest plots from 30 chronosequence sites across the Neotropics. By analyzing communities in terms of their traits, we enhance understanding of the mechanisms of succession, assess ecosystem recovery, and use these insights to propose successful forest restoration strategies. Wet and dry forests diverged markedly for several traits that increase growth rate in wet forests but come at the expense of reduced drought tolerance, delay, or avoidance, which is important in seasonally dry forests. Dry and wet forests showed different successional pathways for several traits. In dry forests, species turnover is driven by drought tolerance traits that are important early in succession and in wet forests by shade tolerance traits that are important later in succession. In both forests, deciduous and compound-leaved trees decreased with forest age, probably because microclimatic conditions became less hot and dry. Our results suggest that climatic water availability drives functional recovery by influencing the start and trajectory of succession, resulting in a convergence of community trait values with forest age when vegetation cover builds up. Within plots, the range in functional trait values increased with age. Based on the observed successional trait changes, we indicate the consequences for carbon and nutrient cycling and propose an ecologically sound strategy to improve forest restoration success.