NCEAS Project 4300

Landscape-scale variation in forest communities and the distribution of tree life history strategies

Muller-Landau, Helene

Activity	Dates	Further Information
Postdoctoral Fellowship	1st January 2002—31st December 2003	Participant List

Abstract
Tree species vary greatly in their life history strategies, exhibiting variation in their seed size, growth rate, life span, fecundity, and many other characters. The distribution of strategies within a forest affects community structure and dynamics, including successional patterns of species turnover and biomass accumulation, spatial patterns of species occupancy, and resilience to disturbance of various kinds. Landscape-scale variation in factors such as the length of the growing season, nutrient availability, and disturbance regime influences the distribution of tree life history strategies found within local communities. I propose to use new analytical techniques to estimate the distribution of life history strategies within communities from existing data on tree species composition and species characteristics for as many tropical and temperate forests as possible. Then, I will analyze differences in the distribution of life history strategies between communities, and their associations with climatic and other factors. In parallel, I will continue theoretical work on the evolution of life history strategies within communities. The overall objective is to contribute to a better understanding of the distribution of tree life history strategies within and among communities, and of the implications for forest structure and dynamics.

Type	Products of NCEAS Research
Publication	Adler, Fred; Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2005. When do localized natural enemies increase species richness?. Ecology Letters. Vol: 8. Pages 438-447.
Publication	Levin, Simon A.; Muller-Landau, Helene C.; Chave, Jerome; Nathan, R. 2003. The ecology and evolution of seed dispersal: A theoretical perspective. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. Vol: 34. Pages 575-604.
Publication	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2003. Seeds of understanding of plant diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Vol: 100(4). Pages 1469-1471.
Publication	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2004. Interspecific and inter-site variation in wood specific gravity of tropical trees. Biotropica. Vol: 36. Pages 20-32.
Publication	Muller-Landau, Helene C.; Condit, Richard; Chave, Jerome; Thomas, Sean C.; Bohlman, Stephanie A.; Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh; Davies, Stuart; Foster, Robin; Gunatilleke, Savitri; Gunatilleke, Nimal; Harms, Kyle E.; Hart, Terese; Hubbell, Stephen P.; Itoh, Akira; Kassim, Abdul Rahman; LaFrankie, James; Lee, Hua Seng; Losos, Elizabeth; Makana, Jean-Remy; Ohkubo, Tatsuhiro; Sukumar, Raman; Sun, I-Fang; Supardi Noor, Md. Nur; Tan, Sylvester; Thompson, Jill; Valencia, Renato; Munoz, Gorky Villa; Wills, Christopher; Yamakura, Takuo; Chuyong, George; Dattaraja, Handanakere S.; Esufali, Shameema; Hall, Pamela; Hernandez, Consuelo; Kenfack, David; Kiratiprayoon, Somboon; Suresh, Hebbalalu S.; Thomas, Duncan; Vallejo, Martha I.; Ashton, Peter. 2006. Testing metabolic ecology theory for allometric scaling of tree size, growth and mortality in tropical forests. Ecology Letters. Vol: 9. Pages 575-588.
Publication	Muller-Landau, Helene C.; Condit, Richard; Harms, Kyle E.; Marks, Christian O.; Thomas, Sean C.; Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh; Chuyong, George; Co, Leonardo; Davies, Stuart; Foster, Robin; Gunatilleke, Savitri; Gunatilleke, Nimal; Hart, Terese; Hubbell, Stephen P.; Itoh, Akira; Kassim, Abdul Rahman; Kenfack, David; LaFrankie, James; Lagunzad, Daniel; Lee, Hua Seng; Losos, Elizabeth; Makana, Jean-Remy; Ohkubo, Tatsuhiro; Samper, Cristian; Sukumar, Raman; Sun, I-Fang; Supardi Noor, Md. Nur; Tan, Sylvester; Thomas, Duncan; Thompson, Jill; Valencia, Renato; Vallejo, Martha I.; Munoz, Gorky Villa; Yamakura, Takuo; Zimmerman, Jess K.; Dattaraja, Handanakere S.; Esufali, Shameema; Hall, Pamela; He, Fangliang; Hernandez, Consuelo; Kiratiprayoon, Somboon; Suresh, Hebbalalu S.; Wills, Christopher; Ashton, Peter. 2006. Comparing tropical forest tree size distributions with the predictions of metabolic ecology and equilibrium models. Ecology Letters. Vol: 9. Pages 589-602.
Publication	Muller-Landau, Helene C.; Hardesty, B D. 2005. Seed dispersal of woody plants in tropical forests: Concepts, examples, and future directions. Edited by Burslem, D.; Pinard, M.; Hartley, S.. Biotic Interactions in the Tropics. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. Pages 267-309.
Publication	Muller-Landau, Helene C.; Levin, Simon A.; Keymer, J. E. 2003. Theoretical perspectives on evolution of long-distance dispersal and the example of specialized pests. Ecology. Vol: 84(8). Pages 1957-1967.
Publication	Muller-Landau, Helene C.; Wright, S. Joseph; Calderon, Osvaldo; Condit, Richard; Hubbell, Stephen P. 2008. Interspecific variation in primary seed dispersal in a tropical forest. Journal of Ecology. Vol: 96. Pages 653-667.
Publication	Wright, S. J.; Muller-Landau, Helene C.; Condit, Richard; Hubbell, Stephen P. 2003. Gap-dependent recruitment, realized vital rates, and size distributions of tropical trees. Ecology. Vol: 84(12). Pages 3174-3185.
Publication	Wright, S. Joseph; Muller-Landau, Helene C.; Calderon, Osvaldo; Hernandez, Andres. 2005. Annual and spatial variation in seedfall and seedling recruitment in a neotropical forest. Ecology. Vol: 86(4). Pages 848-860.
Grant	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2006-2011. Uniting ecological theory and empirical studies to investigate the maintenance of tropical diversity. Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering, awarded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Grant	Muller-Landau, Helene C.; Garwood, N.; Wright, S. Joseph; Zimmerman, Jess K. 2006-2011. Collaborative Research: LTREB - Long-term studies of flowering, fruiting and seedling recruitment in Neotropical forests: global change, climate variability and mechanisms of species coexistence. National Science Foundation.
Grant	Muller-Landau, Helene C.; Nathan, R; Wright, S. Joseph; Avissar, Roni. 2005-2008. Collaborative Research: Seed dispersal by wind and plant recruitment in tropical forests ? an interdisciplinary investigation across multiple scales. National Science Foundation.
Presentation	Gilbert, Benjamin; Wright, S. J.; Kitajima, K.; Muller-Landau, Helene C.; Hernandez, Andres. 2004. Life history trade-offs in tropical trees and lianas. Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, 5 August 2004.
Presentation	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2002. Seed dispersal in a tropical forest: Empirical patterns, their origins, and their consequences for forest dynamics, 7 February 2002. National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. Santa Barbara, CA.
Presentation	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2003. Seed dispersal and production in Luqillo. Luquillo LTER Annual meeting, 19 January 2003. San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Presentation	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2003. Seed dispersal in a lowland dipterocarp forest during two masting events. Seminar on Ecological Research in Tropical Forests, 21 August 2003. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Presentation	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2003. Seed mass and the tradeoff between seed arrival and seed survival in central Panama. Association for Tropical Biology Annual Meeting, 8 July 2003. Aberdeen, Scotland.
Presentation	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2003. Tree life history strategies and community structure. NCEAS Science Advisory Board meeting, 11 September 2003. Santa Barbara, CA.
Presentation	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2003. Tropical tree life history strategies and community structure, 17 March 2003. University of Colorado. Boulder, CO.
Presentation	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2003. Tropical tree life history strategies and community structure, 19 February 2003. University of Minnesota. St. Paul, MN.
Presentation	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2003. Tropical tree life history strategies and community structure, 25 March 2003. University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, MI.
Presentation	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2003. Tropical tree life history strategies and community structure, 27 January 2003. University of Tennessee. Knoxville, TN.
Presentation	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2003. Understanding tree size distributions in tropical forests, 12 June 2003. Eco- lunch. National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. Santa Barbara, CA.
Presentation	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2003. Understanding tree size distributions in tropical forests, 15 April 2003. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Panama City, Panama.
Presentation	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2004. Relating functional traits, demography, and size distributions of tropical tree species and communities. Symposium on Morphology and Life History Relationships Among Neotropical Forest Trees, 15 July 2004. Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation Annual Meeting. Panama City, Panama.
Presentation	Muller-Landau, Helene C. 2004. Understanding tree size distributions in tropical forests. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Postdoc Forum, 19 February 2004. Princeton University. Princeton, New Jersey.
Presentation	Muller-Landau, Helene C.; Pacala, Stephen W.; Hubbell, Stephen P.; Condit, Richard; Foster, Robin. 2004. Characterizing species regeneration strategies with respect to light availability in a wet tropical forest. Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, 4 August 2004.
Report	Muller-Landau, Helene C.; Yu Yun Chen, I Fang Sun; Wright, S. Joseph; Hubbell, Stephen P.; Noor, Supardi. 2003. Seed dispersal in a lowland dipterocarp forest during two masting events. Proceedings of the Seminar on Ecological Research in Tropical Forests, (CFFPR series 2003), 19-21 August 2003. FRIM Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.