Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Analysis of the “shelter tree-effect” of natural and exotic forest canopies on the growth of young Podocarpus falcatus trees in southern Ethiopia

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Trees Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Plantations of exotic trees on areas where tropical forest has been clear-felled have been reported to facilitate regrowth of indigenous tree species. This so-called nurse- or shelter tree effect was investigated in a montane semihumid site in southern Ethiopia where plantations of Pinus patula and Eucalyptus saligna grow in close vicinity to the natural Podocarpus falcatus mixed forest. Physiological performance of P. falcatus saplings growing in the exotic and the natural forests was investigated over the year. Compared with the natural forest, photosynthetic carbon gain and growth of the saplings were significantly enhanced under Pinus patula while likewise retarded under Eucalyptus saligna. Diverging effects of the differently dense shelter canopies on the saplings could be traced to differences in the sub-canopy microclimates and particularly to the intensities and temporal distribution of photosynthetic active radiation (PAR). Moisture also played an important role for photosynthetic carbon gain: while the morning patterns of CO2 uptake were significantly correlated with the patterns of sunflecks, stomatal conductance was the determinant factor in the afternoon. Analysis of the photosynthetic efficiency of sunflecks revealed a lower quantum yield than the basic diffuse PAR intensity. Compared with a theoretically even distribution of the daily PAR, CO2 uptake under the real light climate was 70% under Pinus and in the natural forest, and 59% under Eucalyptus. Relating growth rates of Podocarpus saplings to photosynthesis the microclimate under Pinus was 2.5 times as effective as that in the natural forest and five times more effective than under Eucalyptus.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Because of the repeated transfer of the second microclimate station between the Pinus and the Eucalyptus plantation and some problems with the sensor data for an extended series of days without precipitation, representing the dry season, are not available for the microclimate under the shelter of Eucalyptus trees.

References

  • Abate, A (2004) Biomass and Nutrient Studies of Selected Tree Species of Natural and Plantation Forests: Implications for a Sustainable Management of the Munessa-Shashemene Forest, Ethiopia. PhD Thesis, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth

  • Adams MA, Grierson PF (2001) Stable isotopes at natural abundance in terrestrial plant ecology and ecophysiology: an update. Plant Biol 3:299–310

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Asdak C, Jarvis PG, van Gardingen P, Frazer A (1998) Rainfall interception loss in unlogged and logged forest areas of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. J Hydrol 206:237–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashagrie Y, Zech W, Guggenberger G (2005) Transformation of a Podocarpus falcatus dominated natural forest into monoculture Eucalyptus globules plantation at Munessa, Ethiopia: Soil organic C, N and S dynamics in primary particle and aggregate-size fractions. Agric Ecosyst Environ 106:89–98

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ashton PMS, Gamage S, Gunatilleke I, Gunatilleke C (1998) Using Caribbean pine to establish a mixed plantation: testing effects of pine canopy removal on plantings of rain forest tree species. For Ecol Manage 106:211–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bazzaz F (1991) Regeneration of tropical forests: physiological responses of pioneer and secondary species. In: Gomez-Pompa A, Whitmore T, Hadley M (eds) Rainforest regeneration and management. Parthenon Publishing, Paris, pp 91–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Binkley D, Resh SC (1998) Rapid changes in soils following Eucalyptus afforestation in Hawaii. Soil Sci Soc Am 63:222–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brasell HM, Sinclair MDF (1983) Elements returned to forest floor in two rainforest and three plantation plots in tropical Australia. J Ecol 71:367–378

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Canham CD, Finzi AC, Pacala SW, Burbank DH (1994) Causes and consequences of resource hetereogeneity in forests: interspecific variations in light transmission by canopy trees. Can J For Res 24:337–349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chaffey DR (1980) South-west Ethiopia forest inventory project: and inventory of forest at Munessa and Sheshamene. Ministry of Overseas Development, Land Resource Division, Project Report 29, London

  • Chazdon RL (1986) Light variation and carbon gain in rainforest understorey palms. J Ecol 74:995–1012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chazdon RL, Fetcher N (1984) Photosynthetic light environments in a lowland tropical rain forest in Costa Rica. J Ecol 72:553–564

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chazdon RL, Pearcy RW (1986) Photosynthesis responses to light variation in rainforest species II. Carbon gain and photosynthetic efficiency during lightflecks. Oecologia (Berl.) 69:524–531

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comstock JP (2002) Hydraulic and chemical signalling in the control of stomatal conductance and transpiration. J Exp Bot 53:195–200

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Crockford RH, Richardson DP (2000) Partitioning of rainfall into throughfall, stem flow and interception: effects of forest type, ground cover and climate. Hydrol Process 14:2903–2920

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cusack D, Montagnini F (2004) The role of native species plantations in recovery of understorey woody diversity in degraded pasturelands of Costa Rica. For Ecol Manage 188:1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Lucia E, Whitehead D, Clearwater MJ (2003) The relative limitation of photosynthesis by mesophyll conductance in co-occurring species in a temperate rainforest dominated by the conifer Dacrydium cupressinum. Funct Plant Biol 30:1197–1204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FAO (2003) State of the World’s Forests 2003. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, p 151

    Google Scholar 

  • FAO (2006) Global Forest Assessment 2005. FAO Forestry 147, Rome 2006

  • Farquhar GD, Ehleringer JR, Hubick KT (1989a) Carbon isotope discrimination and photosynthesis. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol 40:503–536

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Farquhar GD, Hubick KT, Condon AG, Richards RA (1989b) Carbon isotope fractionation and plant-water use efficiency. In: Rundel PW, Ehleringer JER, Nagy KA (eds) Stable isotopes in ecological research. Springer, New York, pp 21–40

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fernandez C, Lelong B, Vila B, Mévy J-P, Robles C, Greff S, Dupouyet S, Bousquet-Mélou A (2006) Potential allelopathic effect of Pinus halepensis in the secondary succession: an experimental approach. Chemoecology 16:97–105

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fetene M, Beck EH (2004) Water relations of indigenous versus exotic tree species, growing at the same site in a tropical montane forest in southern Ethiopia. Trees 18:428–435

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feyera S, Beck E, Lüttge U (2002) Exotic trees as nurse-trees for the generation of a natural tropical forest. Trees 16:245–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fimbel RA, Fimbel CC (1996) The role of exotic conifer plantations in rehabilitating degraded tropical forest lands: A case study from the Kibale Forest in Uganda. For Ecol Manage 81:215–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flexas J, Ribas-Carbó M, Diaz-Espejo A, Galmés J, Medrano H (2008) Mesophyll conductance to CO2: current knowledge and future prospects. Plant Cell Environ 31:602–621

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Freier KP, Glaser B, Zech W (2010) Mathematical modelling of soil carbon turnover in natural Podocarpus forest and Eucalyptus plantation in Ethiopia using compound specific δ13C analysis. Global Change Biol 16:1487–1502

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friis I, Friis Ib (1992) Forests and forest trees of northeast tropical Africa: their natural habitats and distribution patterns in Ethiopia. Djibouti and Somalia, Kew Bulletin

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritzsche F, Asferachew A, Fetene M, Beck E, Weise S, Guggenberger G (2006) Soil-plant hydrology of indigenous and exotic trees in an Ethiopian montane forest. Tree Physiol 26:1043–1054

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Granier A (1987) Evaluation of transpiration in a Douglas fir stand by means of sap flow measurements. Tree Physiol 3:309–320

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Granier A, Loustau D (1994) Measuring and modelling the transpiration of a maritime pine canopy from sap flow data. Agric For Meteor 51:309–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guariguata MR, Rheingans R, Montagnini E (1995) Early woody invasion under tree plantations in Costa Rica: Implications for forest restoration. Restor Ecol 3:223–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo LB, Gifford RM (2002) Soil carbon stocks and land use change: a meta analysis. Global Change Biol 8:345–360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haggar JP, Wightman K, Fisher R (1997) The potential of plantations to foster woody regeneration within a deforested landscape in lowland Costa Rica. For Ecol Manage 99:55–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrington RA, Ewel JJ (1997) Invasibility of tree plantations by native and non-indigenous plant species in Hawaii. For Ecol Manage 99:153–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Healey SP, Robert IG (2003) The effect of a teak (Tectona grandis) plantation on the establishment of native species in an abandoned pasture in Costa Rica. For Ecol Manage 176:497–507

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huber A, Iroumé A, Bathurst J (2007) Effect of Pinus radiate plantations on water balance in Chile. Hydrol Process 22:142–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kao WY, Chiu YS, Chen WH (2000) Vertical profiles of CO2 concentration and d13C values in a subalpine forest of Taiwan. Bot Bull Acad Sin 41:213–218

    Google Scholar 

  • Kasenene JM (2007) Impact of exotic plantations and harvesting methods on the regeneration of indigenous tree species in Kibale forest, Uganda. Afr J Ecol 45:41–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keenan R, Lamb D, Woldring O, Irvine T, Jensen R (1997) Restoration of plant biodiversity beneath tropical tree plantations in northern Australia. For Ecol Manage 99:117–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kodama N, Barnard RL, Salmon Y, Weston C, Ferrio JP, Holst J, Werner RA, Saurer M, Rennenberg H, Buchmann N, Gessler A (2008) Temporal dynamics of the carbon isotope composition in a Pinus sylvestris stand: from newly assimilated organic carbon to respired carbon dioxide. Oecologia 156:737–750

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Küppers M, Timm H, Orth F, Stegemann J, Stöber R, Schneider H, Paliwal K, Karunaichamy KSTK, Ortiz R (1996) Effects of light environment and successional status on lightfleck use by understory trees of temperate and tropical forests. Tree Physiol 16:69–80

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Larcher W (2001) Ökophysiologie der Pflanzen. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart, p 126

    Google Scholar 

  • Leakey ADB, Scholes JD, Press MC (2004) Physiological and ecological significance of sunflecks for dipterocarp seedlings. J Exp Bot 56:469–482

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lemenih M (2006) Expediting ecological restoration with the help of foster tree plantations in Ethiopia. J Drylands 1:72–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemenih M, Olsson M, Karltun E (2004) Comparison of soil attributes under Cupressus lusitanica and Eucalyptus saligna established on abandoned farmlands with continuously cropped farmlands and natural forest in Ethiopia. For Ecol Manage 195:57–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lisanework N, Michelsen A (1993) Allelopathy in agroforestry systems: the effects of leaf extracts of Cupressus lucitanica and three Eucalyptus spp on four Ethiopian crops. Agrofor Syst 21:63–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Little C, Lara A, McPhee J, Urrutia R (2009) Revealing the impact of forest exotic plantations on water yield in large-scale watersheds in South-Central Chile. J Hydrol 374:162–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lugo AE (1992) Comparison of tropical tree plantations with secondary forests of similar age. Ecol Monogr 62:1–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lüttge U, Berg A, Fetene M, Nauke P, Peter D, Beck E (2003) Comparative characterization of photosynthetic performance and water relations of native trees and exotic plantation trees in an Ethiopian forest. Trees 17:40–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lüttge U, Escher P, Paluch R, Pfanz H, Wittmann C, Rennenberg H, Rakowski K (2011) Variability of photosynthetic capacity and water relations of Pinus sylvestris L. in the field. Biol Planta 55:90–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michelsen A, Lisanework N, Ib Friis (1993) Impacts of tree plantations in the Ethiopian highland on soil fertility, shoot and root growth, nutrient utilization and mycorrhizal colonization. For Ecol Manage 61:299–324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montagnini F (2001) Strategies for the recovery of degraded ecosystems: experiences from Latin America. Intersciencia 26:498–503

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller-Hohenstein K, Abate A (2004) Rain forest margins and their dynamics in south-east Ethiopia. In: Gerold G, Fremerey M, Gudhardja U (eds) Use nature conservation and the stability of rainforest margins in southeast Asia Environmental Science. Springer, Berlin, pp 217–238

    Google Scholar 

  • Negash L (1995) Indigenous trees of Ethiopia: Biology, uses and propagation techniques. SLU Reprocentralen Umeå, Sweden, p 284

    Google Scholar 

  • Oberhauser U (1997) Secondary forest regeneration beneath pine (Pinus kesiya) plantations in the northern Thai highlands: a chronosequence study. For Ecol Manage 99:171–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Otsamo R (1998) Effect of nurse tree species on early growth of Anisoptera marginata Korth. (Dipterocarpaceae) on an Imperata cylindrica (L.) Beauv. Grassland site in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. For Eco Manage 105:303–311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parrotta JA (1992) The role of plantation forests in rehabilitating degraded tropical ecosystems. Agric Ecosyst Environ 41:115–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parrotta JA (1993) Secondary forest regeneration on degraded tropical lands: The role of Plantations as “fosterecosystems”. In: Lieth H, Lohmann M (eds) Restoration of tropical forest ecosystems. Kluwer, Dortrecht, pp 63–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Parrotta JA (1995) Influence of overstory composition on understory colonization by native species in plantations on a degraded tropical site. J Veg Sci 6:627–636

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parrotta JA, Turnbull JW, Jones N (1997) Catalyzing native forest regeneration on degraded tropical lands. For Ecol Manage 99:1–7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pearcy RW, Pfitsch WA (1994) Consequences of sunflecks for photosynthesis and growth of forest understory plants. In: Schulze ED, Caldwell MM (eds) Ecophysiology of photosynthesis. Springer, Berlin, pp 343–359

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearcy RW, Chazdon RL, Gross LJ, Mott KA (1994) Photosynthetic utilization of sunflecks: a temporally patchy resource on a time scale of seconds to minutes. In: Caldwell MM, Pearcy RW (eds) Exploitation of environmental heterogeneity by plants–Ecophysiological processes above- and belowground. Academic Press San Diego, New York, pp 175–208

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfitsch WA, Pearcy RW (1989) Daily carbon gain by Adenocaulon bicolour (Asteraceae), a redwood forest understory herb, in relation to its light environment. Oecologia 80:465–470

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pohjonen V, Pukkala T (1990) Eucalyptus globulus in Ethiopian forestry. For Ecol Manage 36:19–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poore MED, Fries C (1985) The ecological effects of Eucalyptus. Forestry Paper 59. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, p 87

    Google Scholar 

  • Rao CRN (1984) Photosynthetic active components of global solar radiation: measurements and model computations. Arch Met Geoph Biocl Ser B 34:353–364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodgers A (1992) Ethiopia. In: Sayer JA, Harcocurt CS, Collins NM (eds) The conservation atlas of tropical forests: Africa. IUCN, New York, pp 148–160

    Google Scholar 

  • Roehle H (1986) Vergleichende Untersuchungen zur Ermittlung der Genauigkeit bei der Ablotung von Kronenradien mit dem Dachlot und durch senkrechtes Anvisieren des Kronenrandes (Hochblick-Messung). Forstarchiv 2:67–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Russ GW (1945) Reports on Ethiopian Forests. Compiled by Wolde-Michael Kelecha, 1979. Addis Abeba, p 215

  • Schulze E-D (1993) Soil water deficits and atmospheric humidity as environmental signals. In: Smith JAC, Griffith H (eds) Water deficits. Bios Scientific Publ, Oxford, pp 129–145

    Google Scholar 

  • Selwyn MA, Ganesan R (2009) Evaluating the potential role of Eucalyptus plantations in the regeneration of native trees in southern Ghats, India. Trop Ecol 50:173–189

    Google Scholar 

  • Senbeta F, Teketay D, Näslund B-A (2002) Native woody species regeneration in exotic tree plantations at Munessa-Shashemene Forest, southern Ethiopia. New For 24:131–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon D, Fritzsche F, Tekalign M, Lehmann J, Zech W (2002) Soil organic matter composition in the subhumid Ethiopian highlands as influenced by deforestation and agricultural management. Soil Science Society America Journal 66:68–82

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Teketay D (1997) Seedling populations and regeneration of woody species in dry Afromontane forest of Ethiopia. For Ecol Manage 98:149–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teketay D, Granstrom A (1995) Soil seed banks in dry Afromontane forests of Ethiopia. J Veg Sci 6:777–786

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tesfaye G (2008) Ecology of regeneration and phenology of seven indigenous tree species in a dry Afromontane forest of Ethiopia. PhD thesis, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

  • Tesfaye G, Teketay D, Fetene M (2002) Regeneration of fourteen tree species in Harenna forest, southeastern Ethiopia. Flora 197:461–467

    Google Scholar 

  • Tesfaye G, Teketay D, Fetene M, Beck E (2010) Regeneration of seven indigenous tree species in a dry Afromontane forest, southern Ethiopia. Flora 205:135–143

    Google Scholar 

  • Valladares F, Niinemets Ü (2008) Shade tolerance, a key plant feature of complex nature and consequences. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 39:237–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valladares F, Mitchell TA, Pearcy RW (1997) Photosynthetic responses to dynamic light under field conditions in six tropical rainforest shrub occurring along a light gradient. Oecologia 111:505–514

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von Breitenbach F (1962) National forestry development planning: A feasibility and priority study on the example of Ethiopia. Ethiopia For Rev 3(4):41–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber JA, JurikTW TenhunenJD, Gates DM (1985) Analysis of gas exchange in seedlings of Acer saccharum: integration of field and laboratory studies. Oecologia 65:338–347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White F (1983) The vegetation of Africa: a descriptive memoir to accompany the UNESCO/AETFAT/UNSO vegetation map of Africa. UNESCO, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitmore T (1996) A review of some aspects of tropical rainforest seedling ecology with suggestions for further enquiry. In: Swaine M (ed) The ecology of tropical forest tree seedlings. Parthenon Publishing, Paris, pp 3–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Yirdaw E, Luukkanen O (2003) Indigenous woody species diversity in Eucalyptus globulus Labill. ssp. globulus plantations in the Ethiopian highlands. Mt Res Dev 21:184–191

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The work was supported by grant Be 473/35-2 from the German Research Foundation in the scope of the joint programme (Regeneration in an Ethiopian montane forest with special emphasis on tree biology and nurse-tree functions). Thanks are due to Prof. Dr. G. Gebauer from the Bayreuth Centre for Ecology and environmental Research (BAYCEER) for δ13C analysis. Administrative support and effective coordination of the project by Dr. Asferachew Abate, Addis Ababa is gratefully acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Physiology and Bayreuth Centre for Ecology and Environmental Research (BAYCEER), University of Bayreuth, 95440, Bayreuth, Germany

    Simone Strobl & Erwin H. Beck

  2. Department of Biology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Masresha Fetene

Authors
  1. Simone Strobl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Masresha Fetene
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Erwin H. Beck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simone Strobl.

Additional information

Communicated by U. Luettge.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Strobl, S., Fetene, M. & Beck, E.H. Analysis of the “shelter tree-effect” of natural and exotic forest canopies on the growth of young Podocarpus falcatus trees in southern Ethiopia. Trees 25, 769–783 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-011-0554-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-011-0554-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation