L. (Lars) Markesteijn: Drought-tolerance of tropical tree species

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3 Feb 2010 16:00
Unit: Wageningen University
Location: Aula, building 362, Gen. Foulkesweg 1, Wageningen
Organisation: Wageningen University
Promotor: prof.dr. F.J.J.M. Bongers (Personal Chair at the Forestecology and Forest Management)
Co Promotor: Dr.ir. L. Poorter
Thesis: L. (Lars) Markesteijn: Drought-tolerance of tropical tree species
Functional traits, Trade-offs and Species Distribution
Tropical forests occur under rainfall regimes that vary greatly in the rainfall pattern and frequency and intensity of drought. In my dissertation I studied the mechanisms of drought-tolerance of many tropical tree species to explain how drought-tolerance drives species distribution along water availability gradients. Water availability in tropical forests was found to vary greatly, both in space and time and across and within forests. This suggests great potential for niche-differentiation among species. Tropical tree species follow one of three main drought strategies; drought-tolerance, drought-avoidance or drought-intolerance, each of  which comes with their own suit of functional traits. The distribution of tropical tree species across forests is largely driven by drought-tolerance, but within the dry forest drought- and shade-tolerance are strongly coordinated, implying that the distribution of light-demanding species is restricted to habitats that combine both a high light and a high water availability.
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