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Identifying keystone plant resources in an Amazonian forest using a long-term fruit-fall record

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2014

Zoë Diaz-Martin ,
Varun Swamy ,
John Terborgh ,
Patricia Alvarez-Loayza  and
Fernando Cornejo
Zoë Diaz-Martin
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Studies, Connecticut College, 270 Mohegan Ave, New London, CT 06320, USA
Varun Swamy*
Affiliation:
Center for Tropical Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Box 90328, Durham, NC 27708, USA Harvard Forest, 324 North Main Street, Petersham, MA 01366, USA
John Terborgh
Affiliation:
Center for Tropical Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Box 90328, Durham, NC 27708, USA
Patricia Alvarez-Loayza
Affiliation:
Center for Tropical Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Box 90328, Durham, NC 27708, USA
Fernando Cornejo
Affiliation:
Botanical Research Institute of Texas, 509 Pecan Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102, USA
*
1Corresponding author. Email: vs12@duke.edu
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Abstract:

The keystone plant resources (KPR) concept describes certain plant species in tropical forests as vital to community stability and diversity because they provide food resources to vertebrate consumers during the season of scarcity. Here, we use an 8-y, continuous record of fruit fall from a 1.44-ha mature forest stand to identify potential KPRs in a lowland western Amazonian rain forest. KPRs were identified based on four criteria: temporal non-redundancy; year-to-year reliability; abundance of reproductive-size individuals and inferred fruit crop size; and the variety of vertebrate consumers utilizing their fruit. Overall, seven species were considered excellent KPRs: two of these belong to the genus Ficus, confirming that this taxon is a KPR as previously suggested. Celtis iguanaea (Cannabaceae) – a canopy liana – has also been previously classified as a KPR; in addition, Pseudomalmea diclina (Annonaceae), Cissus ulmifolia (Vitaceae), Allophylus glabratus (Sapindaceae) and Trichilia elegans (Meliaceae) are newly identified KPRs. Our results confirm that a very small fraction (<5%) of the plant community consistently provides fruit for a broad set of consumers during the period of resource scarcity, which has significant implications for the conservation and management of Amazonian forests.

Keywords

AmazonCocha CashuFicusfrugivorykeystone plant resourcesMadre de DiosPeruprimates
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , July 2014 , pp. 291 - 301
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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