Defaunation changes leaf trait composition of recruit communities in tropical forests in French Guiana.

ABSTRACT: Hunting impacts tropical vertebrate populations, causing declines of species that function as seed dispersers and predators, or that browse seedlings and saplings. Whether and how the resulting reductions in seed dispersal, seed predation, and browsing translate to changes in the tree composition is poorly understood. Here, we assess the effect of defaunation on the functional composition of communities of tree recruits in tropical rainforests in French Guiana. We selected eight sites along a gradient of defaunation, caused by differences in hunting pressure, in otherwise intact old-growth forests in French Guiana. We measured shifts in functional composition by comparing leaf and fruit traits and wood density between tree recruits (up to 5 cm diameter at breast height) and adults, and tes

SUBMITTER: Vaessen RW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10078438 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature