Synchronization of growth, branching and flowering processes in the South American tropical tree Cecropia obtusa (Cecropiaceae)

Cecropia obtusa Trécul (Cecropiaceae) is a pioneer species associated with the initial phases of regeneration of tropical South American forests. A comparison of the succession of morphological events associated with each node (inflorescences or branches developed or aborted and underlying internode length) making up the axes of 30 trees helped to establish a link between their architecture and the regularity and synchronicity of their expression of growth, flowering, and branching processes over time on an individual and stand level. For a given individual, new nodes are emitted at the same rate on all the axes, irrespective of their branching order. Flowering and branching alternate, and these processes occur in all the axes of the tree synchronously. On a stand level, flowering and branching occur regularly every 35 nodes or so, which apparently corresponds to an annual rhythm. Under nonlimiting conditions, a single branch tier would be emitted each year, and it is thus possible to determine a posteriori the age of a crown accurately. The merits of the method, the possibility of estimating the age of natural Cecropia obtusa regrowth by observing tree architecture, and the possible applications in the field of ecology are discussed.