Demographic response to light environment of all species in the Barro Colorado plot: recruitment, growth, and mortality

We measured growth, death, and recruitment of 250,000 individual trees of
300 species in the Barro Colorado 50-ha plot in Panama. To understand how
light limits demography, we also carried out a detailed map of the light
environment across the 50 hectares, providing an estimate of the light at
the top of every tree in the plot (Rüger et al. 2009, 2011ab, 2012, 2018,
2020). These tables combine results from the three main studies on the
demographic responses of tree species to light, covering recruitment,
growth, and mortality. Each study was based on rigorous statistical
estimates of demographic rate parameters as a function of available light
across most species in the forest. The model parameters provided here
allow demographic rates of every species to be estimated under any light
condition, and at any diameter, for example, growth rate of 5-cm trees in
3% light, or death rate of 2-cm trees in 10% light. Most useful is a
single table that provides estimated responses in a consistent way across
all species covering recruitment, growth, and mortality. The response is
defined as the ratio of species performance at high light to performance
at low light, and thus describes how every species responds to increase in
light caused by treefall gaps in the canopy. These response parameters
offer comprehensive demographic traits on more than 90% of the species in
the forest. The references provide context and describe the models in
detail. References: Condit, R., 1998. Tropical Forest Census Plots:
Methods and Results from Barro Colorado Island, Panama and a Comparison
with Other Plots. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. Rüger, N., A. Huth, S.P.
Hubbell, and R. Condit. 2009. Response of recruitment to light
availability across a tropical lowland rainforest community. Journal of
Ecology 97: 1360–1368. Rüger, N., U. Berger, S.P. Hubbell, G. Vieilledent,
and R. Condit. 2011a. Growth strategies of tropical tree species:
Disentangling light and size effects. PLoS ONE 6(9): e25330. Rüger, N., A.
Huth, S.P. Hubbell, and R. Condit. 2011b. Determinants of mortality across
a tropical lowland rainforest community. Oikos 120: 1047–1056. Rüger, N.,
C. Wirth, S.J. Wright, and R. Condit. 2012. Functional traits explain
light and size response of growth rates in tropical tree species. Ecology
93: 2626–2636. Rüger, N., L. S. Comita, R. Condit, D. Purves, B.
Rosenbaum, M. D. Visser, S. J. Wright, and C. Wirth. 2018. Beyond the
fast–slow continuum: demographic dimensions structuring a tropical tree
community. Ecology Letters 21:1075–1084. Rüger, N., R. Condit, D. H. Dent,
S. J. DeWalt, S. P. Hubbell, O. R. Lopez, C. Wirth, and C. E. Farrior.
2020. Demographic trade-offs predict tropical forest dynamics. Science
368:165–168.