Seed size predicts community composition and carbon storage potential of tree communities in rainforest fragments in India’s Western Ghats

Fragmentation is ubiquitous across tropical forests and drives marked shifts in tree community composition by differentially affecting species’ dispersal, establishment and survival. Such compositional shifts can potentially alter ecosystem-level properties such as above-ground carbon storage, but our understanding of the factors linking compositional shifts to carbon storage is limited. We compared tree communities of contiguous and fragmented tropical rainforests in the Western Ghats (India) and assessed the ability of various plant functional traits associated with seed dispersal, establishment and survival processes to predict species’ responses to fragmentation. Further, we assessed relationships between functional traits that predict tree community turnover and those that govern carbon storage to examine how fragmentation effects on species’ composition can alter the ability of tree communities to store carbon. Seed size, as indexed by seed length, was the best predictor of specie...

热带森林中片段化现象普遍存在，其通过对不同物种的扩散、定植与存活产生差异化影响，进而显著改变树木群落组成。这类群落组成变化可能会改变生态系统层面的属性，例如地上碳储量，但目前我们对连接群落组成变化与碳储量的相关机制的认知仍较为有限。本研究对比了印度西高止山脉（Western Ghats）地区连片热带雨林与片段化热带雨林的树木群落，并评估了与种子扩散、定植及存活过程相关的多种植物功能性状（plant functional traits）对物种响应片段化程度的预测能力。此外，本研究还分析了预测树木群落更替的功能性状与调控碳储量的功能性状之间的关联，以探究片段化对物种组成的影响如何改变树木群落的碳储能力。以种子长度为指标的种子大小是预测物种...