image: A high-resolution image of the tropical rain forest canopy on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, from a low-altitude drone shows flowering trees of Handroanthus guayacan in yellow and Jacaranda copaia in blue. Fruit-bearing Cavanillesia plantanifolia have a pink hue. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Jonathan Dandois and Helene Muller-Landau (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama).
Analysis of 10 years of remote sensing data from Panama finds that the adult population of the canopy tree Handroanthus guayacan is more likely to increase in places where it is rare than in locations where it is already common, a finding that supports the Janzen-Connell hypothesis, which holds that negative feedback prevents species from becoming abundant and contributes to biological diversity in tropical rain forests; the study finds, however, that constraints on population growth were insufficient to stabilize the tree population, which increased in size over 10 years.
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Article #18-00353: "Density-dependent adult recruitment in a low-density tropical tree," by James R. Kellner and Stephen Hubbell.
MEDIA CONTACT: James R. Kellner, Brown University, Providence, RI; tel: 401-863-5768, 706-201-5822; e-mail: <James_R_Kellner@brown.edu>
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences