Abstract
Most canopy species in lowland tropical rain forests in Southeast Asia, represented by Dipterocarpaceae, undergo mast reproduction synchronously at community level during a general flowering event. Such events occur at irregular intervals of 2–10 years. Some species do not necessarily participate in every synchronous mast reproduction, however. This may be due to a lack of carbohydrate resources in the trees for masting. We tested the hypothesis that interspecific differences in the time required to store assimilates in trees for seed production are due to the frequency of masting and/or seed size in each species. We examined the relationship between reproductive frequency and the carbon accumulation period necessary for seed production, and between the seed size and the period, using radiocarbon analysis in 18 dipterocarp canopy species. The mean carbon accumulation period was 0.84 years before seed maturation in all species studied. The carbon accumulation period did not have any significant correlation with reproductive frequency or seed size, both of which varied widely across the species studied. Our results show that for seed production, dipterocarp masting species do not use carbon assimilates stored for a period between the masting years, but instead use recent photosynthates produced primarily in a masting year, regardless of the masting interval or seed size of each species. These findings suggest that storage of carbohydrate resources is not a limiting factor in the masting of dipterocarps, and that accumulation and allocation of other resources is important as a precondition for participation in general flowering.
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The data sets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Change history
18 March 2024
Formatting error in last paragraph of “Introduction” corrected
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Acknowledgements
This study was conducted in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Sarawak Forestry Cooperation and the Japan Research Consortium for Tropical Forests in Sarawak (JRCTS) in November 2005, and the Memorandums of Understanding signed between Forest Department Sarawak (FDS) and JRCTS in December 2012. We thank L. Chong, ex-deputy general manager, and the staff of the Sarawak Forestry Corporation, the staff of the Forest Department Sarawak for permitting research activities in LHNP, and local people and the staff of LHNP for assisting us in field survey. We are sincerely grateful to T. Inoue, T. Nakashizuka, and other researchers for their kind support in the field over the prolonged period. We also appreciate the assistance of T. F. Haraguchi, C. Yoshimizu, and Y. Kuzume in the laboratory.
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This work was financially supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP23657022, JP24405032, JP17H04623, JP26251042.
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TI conceived the ideas. TI and SI designed the study. SS and HN conducted the fieldwork. SY, FH, IT, TI, and SI did the laboratory work. SY, TK, MM, TI, and SI made the statistical analyses and interpreted the results. TI and SI wrote the initial draft. All the authors contributed critically to the revisions and gave final approval for publication.
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Igarashi, S., Yoshida, S., Kenzo, T. et al. No evidence of carbon storage usage for seed production in 18 dipterocarp masting species in a tropical rain forest. Oecologia 204, 717–726 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-024-05527-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-024-05527-w