The diversity of hemi-epiphytic figs (Ficus ; Moraceae) in a Bornean lowland rain forest |
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Authors: | RHETT D. HARRISON ,ABANG ABDUL HAMID &dagger ,TANAKA KENTA,JAMES LAFRANKIE,HUA-SEN LEE,HIDETOSHI NAGAMASU,TOHRU NAKASHIZUKA, PETER PALMIOTTO |
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Affiliation: | Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Kamitankami Hirano-cho, Otsu 520–2113, Japan;Forest Research Centre, Forest Department Sarawak, Jln. Detak Amar Kalong Ningkan, PO Box 31 26, 93762 Kuching Sarawak, Malaysia;CTFS Asia Program, Nanyang Technological University, 469 Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 1025 Singapore;The Kyoto University Museum, Kyoto University, Yoshida Honmachi, Sakyo 606–8501 Japan;Antioch New England Graduate School, Environmental Studies Department, 40 Avon Street, Keene, New Hampshire, USA |
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Abstract: | The diversity and niche specificity of hemi-epiphytic figs in a lowland dipterocarp forest in Sarawak were investigated in 1998. Twenty-seven fig species (264 individuals, c. 120 ha) colonized a diversity of host taxa (35 families), but densities were very low and only 1.77% of trees> 30 cm d.b.h. were occupied. There were no significant associations with host taxa or host-bark roughness but among 11 common species (≥9 individuals) the distributions of all other parameters (host-d.b.h., height and position of colonization, crown illumination, soil-texture and slope-angle) were significantly different, and we identified five fig guilds. The guilds corresponded to canopy strata, and appeared to reflect the establishment microsite requirements of different species. A fundamental trade-off within the hemi-epiphytic habit was revealed: Species colonizing larger hosts were rarer, because of lower host densities and more specific microsite requirements, but had better light environments and attained a larger maximum size. The single strangler species appeared to escape many of these constraints, and an important source of mortality caused by host-toppling, indicating the advantages of this strategy. Thus, the hemi-epiphytic figs in this community have come to fill a remarkable diversity of niches, despite low levels of competition, through the exigencies of a complex environment. © 2003 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2003, 78 , 439–455 |
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Keywords: | canopy niche specialization rare species species diversity strangler fig Urostigma |
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