METHODS: To understand the regulation by temperature of leaf phenology in tropical trees, we performed daily observations of leaf production under rainfall-independent conditions using saplings of Shorea leprosula and Neobalanocarpus heimii, both species of Dipterocarpaceae, a dominant tree family of Southeast Asia. We analyzed the time-series data obtained using empirical dynamic modeling (EDM) and conducted growth chamber experiments.
RESULTS: Leaf production by dipterocarps fluctuated in the absence of fluctuation in rainfall, and the peaks of leaf production were more frequent than those of day length, suggesting that leaf production cannot be fully explained by these environmental factors, although they have been proposed as regulators of leaf phenology in dipterocarps. Instead, EDM suggested a causal relationship between temperature and leaf production in dipterocarps. Leaf production by N. heimii saplings in chambers significantly increased when temperature was increased after long-term low-temperature treatment. This increase in leaf production was observed even when only nighttime temperature was elevated, suggesting that the effect of temperature on development is not mediated by photosynthesis.
CONCLUSIONS: Because seasonal variation in temperature in the tropics is small, effects on leaf phenology have been overlooked. However, our results suggest that temperature is a regulator of leaf phenology in dipterocarps. This information will contribute to better understanding of the effects of climate change in the tropics.
METHODS: Pollen dispersal patterns and male fecundity variation of Shorea leprosula and Shorea parvifolia ssp. parvifolia on Peninsular Malaysian were investigated during two general flowering seasons (2001 and 2002), using a neighbourhood model modified by including terms accounting for variation in male fecundity among individual trees to express heterogeneity in flowering.
KEY RESULTS: The pollen dispersal patterns of the two dipterocarp species were affected by differences in conspecific tree flowering density, and reductions in conspecific tree flowering density led to an increased selfing rate. Active pollen dispersal and a larger number of effective paternal parents were observed for both species in the season of greater magnitude of general flowering (2002).
CONCLUSIONS: The magnitude of general flowering, male fecundity variation, and distance between pollen donors and mother trees should be taken into account when attempting to predict the effects of management practices on the self-fertilization and genetic structure of key tree species in tropical forest, and also the sustainability of possible management strategies, especially selective logging regimes.
METHODS: By comparing the patterns of floral visitation and levels of genetic diversity in adherent pollen loads among floral visitors, we evaluated the contribution of each flower visitor to pollination.
KEY RESULTS: The big-eyed bug, Geocoris sp., a major thrips predator, was an inadvertent pollinator, and importantly contributed to cross-pollination. The total outcross pollen adhering to thrips was approximately 30% that on the big-eyed bugs. Similarly, 63% of alleles examined in S. acuminata seeds and seedlings occurred in pollen adhering to big-eyed bugs; about 30% was shared with pollen from thrips.
CONCLUSIONS: During mass flowering, big-eyed bugs likely travel among flowering S. acuminata trees, attracted by the abundant thrips. Floral visitation patterns of big-eyed bugs vs. other insects suggest that these bugs can maintain their population size between flowering by preying upon another thrips (Haplothrips sp.) that inhabits stipules of S. acuminata throughout the year and quickly respond to mass flowering. Thus, thrips and big-eyed bugs are essential components in the pollination of S. acuminata.