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The comparative ecology of Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae)
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The comparative ecology of Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae)
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Dissertation
The comparative ecology of Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae)
1996
Overview
A comparative approach was used to investigate life-history variation and evolution in tropical pioneer trees of the genus Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae). Ecological studies, conducted from 1991-1994 in Lambir Hills National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia, were used to investigate the relationships among life-history traits in eleven sympatric species. Growth and mortality rates, tree allometry, reproductive phenology, and fecundity were measured and related to individual micro-environment. The pioneer species varied in many life-history characteristics, and no single life-history trait characterizes the group. Demographic traits, for example growth rates, were shown to be strongly dependent on ontogeny and micro-environment. The degree of shade-tolerance, maximum tree size and reproductive phenology were important axes of life-history variation among the species, and numerous functionally inter-dependent traits were correlated with these axes. Two experimental studies investigated the relationships between phenotypic responses of seedlings to manipulated resource availability and tree life-history variation. (1) Seedlings of nine species were grown in three light levels. Ecophysiological traits varied widely among species, and were generally strongly correlated with life-history traits such as growth, mortality and shade-tolerance, but not with tree size, phenology or fecundity. (2) Responses of seedlings of eight species to variation in soil nutrients demonstrated that all species were extremely sensitive to nutrient availability, particularly phosphorus. Fast growing species responded more to a pulse of nutrients. A morphological phylogenetic study of Macaranga, including the 11 species, suggests that convergent evolution of life-history traits is common in Macaranga, for example, shade-tolerance evolved convergently twice in the 11 species, and myrmecophytism evolved at least twice in the genus. Phylogenetic history and contemporary ecological processes are inseparable components of biological diversity, and a comparative approach provides a method to assess the relative contribution of these factors in structuring the distribution and abundance of organisms.
