Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Interactions of structural and functional characteristics of trees and bamboo in an Atlantic semideciduous forest in Southeast Brazil

  • Published:
Folia Geobotanica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Bamboos are important components of tropical and temperate forests, being able to provide essential ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and soil erosion control. However, when canopy openings or other local disturbance events occur, bamboos can behave as opportunistic species, expressing high dominance in the understorey of forests, leading to changes in their structure and functioning. This study described the interactions between the presence of bamboo (Merostachys sp.) and the native tree community parameters (species richness, Shannon diversity index, functional diversity indices, and CWM values) in an Atlantic semideciduous forest, and how these interactions change between the two height classes of the community (small and large trees). We sampled all bamboo culms and living and standing dead trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 5 cm in 30 plots of 20 × 10 m. We found that the high density of native bamboo Merostachys sp. is associated with a decrease in tree density and basal area, and that bamboo density is differently associated with large and small trees. For the small trees, bamboo was negatively related to tree density, and positively related to the dominance of species with lower wood density and higher SLA. For the large trees, bamboo is negatively related to tree basal area. Besides that, plots with higher bamboo density have lower species richness and functional diversity possible due to strong environmental filtering that allows the dominance of acquisitive species. These acquisitive species invest in fast-growth but have a short lifespan, leading to high biomass mortality and lower standing biomass, reducing forests' carbon stocks over time. Studies on a large-scale and experiments that take into account time before and after Merostachys’s colonization are required in order to better understand the associations between bamboo presence and forest parameters.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alvares CA, Stape JL, Sentelhas PC, Gonçalves JDM, Sparovek G (2013) Köppen’s climate classification map for Brazil. Meteorol Z 22:711–728

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bates D, Maechler M, Bolker B, Walker S (2014) lme4: Linear mixed-effects models using ‘Eigen’ and S4. R package version 1.0-6. Available at https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/archive/lme4

  • Bivand R, Bernat A, Carvalho M, Chun Y, Dormann C, Dray S, Millo G (2005) The spdep package. R package version 05–83. Available at https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/archive/spdep

  • Bu W, Huang J, Xu H, Zang R, Ding Y, Li Y, Zhang C (2019) Plant functional traits are the mediators in regulating effects of abiotic site conditions on aboveground carbon stock-evidence from a 30 ha tropical forest plot. Frontiers Pl Sci 9:1958

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Budke JC, Alberti MS, Zanardi C, Baratto C, Zanin EM (2010) Bamboo dieback and tree regeneration responses in a subtropical forest of South America. Forest Ecol Managem 260:1345–1349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buziquia ST, Lopes PVF, Almeida AK, de Almeida IK (2019) Impacts of bamboo spreading: a review. Biodivers & Conservation 28:3695–3711

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canavan S, Kumschick S, Le Roux JJ, et al. (2019) Does origin determine environmental impacts? Not for bamboos. Pl People Planet 1:119–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cazzolla GR, Castaldi S, Lindsell JA, et al. (2015) The impact of selective logging and clearcutting on forest structure, tree diversity and above-ground biomass of African tropical forests. Ecol Res 30:119–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chave J, Coomes D, Jansen S, Lewis SL, Swenson NG, Zanne AE (2009) Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum. Ecol Letters 12:351–366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christmann T, Rosado BH, Delhaye G, Matos IS, Drummond JS, Roland HL, Oliveras Menor I (2021) Functional assembly of tropical montane tree islands in the Atlantic Forest is shaped by stress tolerance, bamboo presence, and facilitation. Ecol & Evol 11:10164–10177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cornelissen JHC, Lavorel S, Garnier E, et al. (2003) A handbook of protocols for standardised and easy measurement of plant functional traits worldwide. Austral J Bot 51:335–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • da Silva SS, Numata I, Fearnside PM, de Alencastro Graça PML, Ferreira EJL, dos Santos EA, de Melo AWF (2020) Impact of fires on an open bamboo forest in years of extreme drought in southwestern Amazonia. Regional Environm Change 20:1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • da Silva SS, Fearnside PM, de Alencastro Graça PML, Numata I, de Melo AWF, Ferreira EL, de Lima PRF (2021) Increasing bamboo dominance in southwestern Amazon forests following intensification of drought-mediated fires. Forest Ecol Managem 490:119139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fadrique B, Santos-Andrade P, Farfan-Rios W, Salinas N, Silman M, Feeley KJ (2021) Reduced tree density and basal area in Andean forests are associated with bamboo dominance. Forest Ecol Managem 480:118648

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Filgueiras TS, Santos-Gonçalves AP (2004) A checklist of the basal grasses and bamboos in Brazil (Poaceae). J Amer Bamboo Soc 18:7–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Fried G, Carboni M, Mahaut L, Violle C (2019) Functional traits modulate plant community responses to alien plant invasion. Perspect Pl Ecol Evol Syst 37:53–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fukushima K, Usui N, Ogawa R, Tokuchi N (2015) Impacts of moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) invasion on dry matter and carbon and nitrogen stocks in a broad-leaved secondary forest located in Kyoto, western Japan. Pl Spec Biol 30:81–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Funk JL, Larson JE, Ames GM, Butterfield BJ, Cavender‐Bares J, Firn J, Wright J (2017) Revisiting the Holy Grail: using plant functional traits to understand ecological processes. Biol Rev 92:1156–1173

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Greig C, Robertson C, Lacerda AEB (2018) Spectral-temporal modelling of bamboo-dominated forest succession in the Atlantic Forest of Southern Brazil. Ecol Modelling 384:316–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griscom BW, Ashton PMS (2003) Bamboo control of forest succession : Guadua sarcocarpa in Southeastern Peru. Forest Ecol Managem 175:445–454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guerreiro C (2014) Flowering cycles of woody bamboos native to southern South America. J Pl Res 127:307–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guilherme FA, Oliveira-Filho AT, Appolinário V, Bearzoti E (2004) Effects of flooding regime and woody bamboos on tree community dynamics in a section of tropical semideciduous forest in South-Eastern Brazil. Pl Ecol 174:19–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higa RCV, Cardoso DJ, Andrade GDC, Zanatta JA, Rossi LMB, Pulrolnik K, Salis S D (2014) Protocolo de medição e estimativa de biomassa e carbono florestal. Colombo: Embrapa Florestas, 68 pp

  • Houdanon RD, Mensah S, Gnangle C, Yorou NS, Houinato M (2018) Ecosystem services and biomass stock from bamboo stands in central and southern Benin, West Africa. Energy Ecol Environm 3:185–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janzen DH (1976) Why bamboos wait so long to flower. Annual Rev Ecol Syst 7:347–391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jost L (2006) Entropy and diversity. Oikos 113:363–375

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Judziewicz EJ, Clark LG, Londoño X, Stern MJ (1999) American bamboos. Smithsonian Institution Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Kellermann B, Lacerda AEB (2019) Arrested development? Investigating the role of bamboo in Araucaria Forest succession in Southern Brazil. J Pl Ecol 12:1034–1046

    Google Scholar 

  • King DA, Wright SJ, Connell JH (2006) The contribution of interspecific variation in maximum tree height to tropical and temperate diversity. J Trop Ecol 22:11–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kissling WD, Carl G (2008) Spatial autocorrelation and the selection of simultaneous autoregressive models. Global Ecol Biogeogr 17:59–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Lacerda AEB (2021) Understanding the long-term impact of bamboos on secondary forests : a case for bamboo management in southern Brazil. Diversity 13:567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laliberte E, Legendre P (2010) A distance-based framework for measuring functional diversity from multiple traits. Ecology 91:299–305

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Laliberte E, Wells JA, DeClerck F, Metcalfe DJ, Catterall CP, Queiroz C, Mayfield MM (2010) Land‐use intensification reduces functional redundancy and response diversity in plant communities. Ecology letters 13(1), 76-86.

  • Laliberté E, Legendre P, Shipley B, Laliberté ME (2014) Package ‘FD’. R package version 1.0-12. Available at https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/Archive/FD

  • Larpkern P, Moe SR, Totland Ø (2011) Bamboo dominance reduces tree regeneration in a disturbed tropical forest. Oecologia 165:161–168

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lebrija-Trejos E, Pérez-García EA, Meave JA, Bongers F, Poorter L (2010) Functional traits and environmental filtering drive community assembly in a species‐rich tropical system. Ecology 91:386–398

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lima RAF, Rother DC, Muler AE, et al. (2012) Bamboo overabundance alters forest structure and dynamics in the Atlantic Forest hotspot. Biol Conservation 147:32–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lohbeck M, Poorter L, Mart M, Rodriguez J (2014) Changing drivers of species dominance during tropical forest succession. Funct Ecol 28:1052–1058

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCune B, Grace JB (2002) Analysis of ecological communities – MjM Software, Gleneden Beach, Oregon, USA

  • Montti L, Villagra M, Campanello PI, Gatti MG, Goldstein G (2014) Functional traits enhance invasiveness of bamboos over co-occurring tree saplings in the semideciduous Atlantic Forest. Acta Oecol 54:36–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muler AE, Rother DC, Brancalion PS, Naves RP, Rodrigues RR, Pizo MA (2014) Can overharvesting of a non-timber-forest-product change the regeneration dynamics of a tropical rainforest? The case study of Euterpe edulis. Forest Ecol Managem 324:117–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olden JD, Rooney TP (2006) On defining and quantifying biotic homogenization. Global Ecol Biogeogr 15:113–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliveira-Filho AT, Vilela EA, Gavilanes ML, Carvalho DA (1994) Effect of flooding regime and understorey bamboos on the physiognomy and tree species composition of a tropical semideciduous forest in Southeastern Brazil. Vegetatio 113:99–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oksanen J, Blanchet FG, Kindt R et al. (2013) ‘vegan’: Community ecology package. R package version 2. Available at https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/archive/vegan

  • Paciullo DSC, Campos NR, Gomide CAM, Castro CRTD, Tavela RC, Rossiello ROP (2008) Crescimento de capim-braquiária influenciado pelo grau de sombreamento e pela estação do ano. Pesq Agropecu Brasil 43:917–923

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-Harguindeguy N, Díaz S, Garnier E, Lavorel S, Poorter H, Jaureguiberry P, Bret-Harte MS, Cornwell WK, Craine JM, Gurvich DE, Urcelay C, Veneklaas EJ, Reich PB, Poorter L, Wright IJ, Ray P, Enrico L, Pausas JG, De Vos AC, Buchmann N, Funes G, Quétier F, Hodgson JG, Thompson K, Morgan HD, Ter Steege H, Van Der Heijden MGA, Sack L, Blonder B, Poschlod P, Vaieretti MV, Conti G, Staver AC, Aquino S, Cornelissen JHC (2013) New handbook for standardised measurement of plant functional traits worldwide. Austral J Bot 61:167–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinho BX, Tabarelli M, Engelbrecht BM, Sfair J, & Melo FP (2019) Plant functional assembly is mediated by rainfall and soil conditions in a seasonally dry tropical forest. Basic Appl Ecol 40, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2019.08.002

  • Poorter L, Bongers L, Bongers F (2006) Architecture of 54 moist‐forest tree species: traits, trade‐offs, and functional groups. Ecology 87:1289–1301

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Poorter H, Niinemets Ü, Poorter L, Wright IJ, Villar R (2009) Causes and consequences of variation in leaf mass per area (LMA): a meta‐analysis. New Phytol 182:565–588

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prado-Junior JA, Schiavini I, Vale VS, Arantes CS, van der Sande MT, Lohbeck M, Poorter L (2016). Conservative species drive biomass productivity in tropical dry forests. Journal of Ecology 104(3), 817–827. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24763122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pyles MV, Prado-Junior JA, Magnago LF, de Paula A, Meira-Neto JA (2018) Loss of biodiversity and shifts in aboveground biomass drivers in tropical rainforests with different disturbance histories. Biodivers & Conservation 27:3215–3231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2019) R: a Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing

  • Raymundo D, Prado-Junior J, de Oliveira-Neto NE, Santana LD, do Vale VS, Jacobson TB, Carvalho FA (2018) Persistence of Coffea arabica and its relationship with the structure, species diversity and composition of a secondary forest in Brazil. PLOS One 13:1–15

  • Reich PB (2014) The world‐wide ‘fast–slow’plant economics spectrum: a traits manifesto. J Ecol 102:275–301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rother DC, Rodrigues RR, Pizo MA (2016) Bamboo thickets alter the demographic structure of Euterpe edulis population: a keystone, threatened palm species of the Atlantic forest. Acta Oecol 70:96–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shinohara Y, Misumi Y, Kubota T, Nanko K (2019) Characteristics of soil erosion in a moso-bamboo forest of western Japan: comparison with a broadleaved forest and a coniferous forest. Catena 172:451–460

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silvério DV, Mews HA, Lenza E, Marimon BS (2010) Impactos do agrupamento do bambu Actinocladum verticillatum (Nees) McClure ex Soderstr. (POACEAE) sobre a vegetação lenhosa de duas fitofisionomias de Cerrado na transição Cerrado-Floresta Amazônica. Acta Amazon 40:347–355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tabarelli M, Mantovani W (2000) Gap-phase regeneration in a tropical montane forest: the effects of gap structure and bamboo species. Pl Ecol 148:149–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tabarelli M, Peres CA, Melo FP (2012) The ‘few winners and many losers’ paradigm revisited: emerging prospects for tropical forest biodiversity. Biol Conservation 155:136–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tardio G, Mickovski SB, Rauch HP, Fernandes JP, Acharya MS (2018) The use of bamboo for erosion control and slope stabilization: soil bioengineering works. In Khalil A (ed) Bamboo: current and future prospects. IntechOpen

  • Valéry L, Fritz H, Lefeuvre JC, Simberloff D (2009) Ecosystem-level consequences of invasions by native species as a way to investigate relationships between evenness and ecosystem function. Biol Invas 11:609–617

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Villéger S, Mason NW, Mouillot D (2008) New multidimensional functional diversity indices for a multifaceted framework in functional ecology. Ecology 89:2290–2301

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vinícius-Silva R, Parma DDF, Jesus-Costa CD, Clark LG, Santos-Gonçalves AP (2018) Merostachys Spreng. (Poaceae: Bambusoideae: Bambuseae: Arthrostylidiinae) from the Atlantic Forest of Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Hoehnea 45:1–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vinícius-Silva R, Clark LG, Fregonezi JN, Santos-Gonçalves AP (2021) Morphological evolution and molecular phylogenetics of the Merostachys clade (Poaceae: Bambusoideae: Bambuseae: Arthrostylidiinae) based on multi-locus plastid sequences. Bot J Linn Soc 195:53–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y, Bai S, Binkley D, Zhou G, Fang F (2016) The independence of clonal shoot’s growth from light availability supports moso bamboo invasion of closed-canopy forest. Forest Ecol Managem 368:105–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wickham H (2011) ggplot2. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Statistics 3:180–185

  • Yuen JQ, Fung T, Ziegler AD (2017) Carbon stocks in bamboo ecosystems worldwide: estimates and uncertainties. Forest Ecol Managem 393:113–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang J, Nielsen SE, Mao L, Chen S, Svenning JC (2016) Regional and historical factors supplement current climate in shaping global forest canopy height. J Ecol 104:469–478

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ziccardi LG, de Alencastro Graça PML, Figueiredo EO, Fearnside PM (2019) Decline of large-diameter trees in a bamboo-dominated forest following anthropogenic disturbances in southwestern Amazonia. Ann Forest Sci 76:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the Graduate Program in Ecology of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (PGECOL‐UFJF) for the logistical support. We thank the experimental field of Embrapa Gado de Leite, located in Coronel Pacheco, Minas Gerais, Brazil, for the funding to develop the study. We also thank Ronaldo Silva for helping us with the identification of the bamboo genus. This work was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001 and by the experimental field of Embrapa Gado de Leite, located in Coronel Pacheco, Minas Gerais, Brazil. M.A. received Masters’ scholarship from the Brazilian Council for Research and Scientific Development (CNPq). F.A.C. holds a CNPq (Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) productivity fellowship.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Rua José Lourenço Kelmer, 36036-330, Juiz de Fora, MG, Brasil

    Monize Altomare, André Luiz Pereira & Fabrício Alvim Carvalho

  2. Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Av. Pará 1720, 38405-302, Uberlândia, MG, Brasil

    Monize Altomare, Jamir Prado-Junior, Diego Raymundo & Norberto Emidio de Oliveira-Neto

Authors
  1. Monize Altomare
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jamir Prado-Junior
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. André Luiz Pereira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Diego Raymundo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Norberto Emidio de Oliveira-Neto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Fabrício Alvim Carvalho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Monize Altomare.

Ethics declarations

Competing Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest in the manuscript.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 73 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Altomare, M., Prado-Junior, J., Pereira, A. et al. Interactions of structural and functional characteristics of trees and bamboo in an Atlantic semideciduous forest in Southeast Brazil. Folia Geobot 57, 103–115 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-022-09415-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-022-09415-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation