6 Tropical Ecology, Canopy Structure and Growth
Dynamics
6.1 Costa Rica
Similar to deserts but very different in appearance, untouched tropical rainforests
certainly pose a wealth of open ecological questions. A small research station in the
lower montane rainforest on the Sierra de Tilarán at the Rio Lorencito in Costa Rica,
as emphasized by Stefan Vogel [in Vienna, formerly in Mainz], was a good starting
point for studies on the following questions. How is the high biodiversity in tropical
forests maintained? Which habitat structure do we have, and what are its dynamics?
Later, also jointly with other German groups, we used the San Francisco station in
the montane rainforest in southern Ecuador, though there were fewer virgin forests
than in Costa Rica. We first wanted to know the basic stand structure, the dynamics
of the main trees and their growth behaviour. With 1 ha inventories and a large
number of dendrometer bands, important basic data on the forest ecosystem could be
collected (Homeier 2004; Homeier et al. 2002a, b, 2008; Homeier and Breckle 2004,
2008). Later, members of the department also worked in Kenya (Dalitz et al. 2005,
2011; Gliniars et al. 2011; Table 2).
Fig. 28 (continued) process (photo: S. W. Breckle, 2003). (b) The steep chinks provide an excellent
view of the remnant of the northern Aral Sea (photo courtesy of W. Wucherer, 24 May 2003)
Table 1 Number of vascular plant species that have spontaneously invaded the Aralkum, their
halophytic strategy types and related salinity indicator values (S) for the flora of the Aralkum
(Breckle and Wucherer 2012)
Halophytic strategy type
S ¼ 1 2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9 X ∑
Non-halophytes
42
18
0
0
0
0
0
0 0 0
60
Pseudo-halophytes
4
30 42 15
8
4
1
0 0 4 108
Xero-succulents
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0 0 1
1
Leaf-succulent eu-halophytes
0
2
2
5 14
7 22
9 1 0
62
Stem-succulent eu-halophytes
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
0 2 0
6
Endocrino-halophytes
0
0
2
5
1
2
0
0 0 0
10
Exocrino-halophytes
0
0
0
0
0
9
7
4 0 0
20
Hydro-halophytes
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0 1 0
2
∑
46
50 46 27 24 23 31 13 4 5 269
Undetermined strategy type
104
∑∑
373
30
S.-W. Breckle
Dynamics
6.1 Costa Rica
Similar to deserts but very different in appearance, untouched tropical rainforests
certainly pose a wealth of open ecological questions. A small research station in the
lower montane rainforest on the Sierra de Tilarán at the Rio Lorencito in Costa Rica,
as emphasized by Stefan Vogel [in Vienna, formerly in Mainz], was a good starting
point for studies on the following questions. How is the high biodiversity in tropical
forests maintained? Which habitat structure do we have, and what are its dynamics?
Later, also jointly with other German groups, we used the San Francisco station in
the montane rainforest in southern Ecuador, though there were fewer virgin forests
than in Costa Rica. We first wanted to know the basic stand structure, the dynamics
of the main trees and their growth behaviour. With 1 ha inventories and a large
number of dendrometer bands, important basic data on the forest ecosystem could be
collected (Homeier 2004; Homeier et al. 2002a, b, 2008; Homeier and Breckle 2004,
2008). Later, members of the department also worked in Kenya (Dalitz et al. 2005,
2011; Gliniars et al. 2011; Table 2).
Fig. 28 (continued) process (photo: S. W. Breckle, 2003). (b) The steep chinks provide an excellent
view of the remnant of the northern Aral Sea (photo courtesy of W. Wucherer, 24 May 2003)
Table 1 Number of vascular plant species that have spontaneously invaded the Aralkum, their
halophytic strategy types and related salinity indicator values (S) for the flora of the Aralkum
(Breckle and Wucherer 2012)
Halophytic strategy type
S ¼ 1 2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9 X ∑
Non-halophytes
42
18
0
0
0
0
0
0 0 0
60
Pseudo-halophytes
4
30 42 15
8
4
1
0 0 4 108
Xero-succulents
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0 0 1
1
Leaf-succulent eu-halophytes
0
2
2
5 14
7 22
9 1 0
62
Stem-succulent eu-halophytes
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
0 2 0
6
Endocrino-halophytes
0
0
2
5
1
2
0
0 0 0
10
Exocrino-halophytes
0
0
0
0
0
9
7
4 0 0
20
Hydro-halophytes
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0 1 0
2
∑
46
50 46 27 24 23 31 13 4 5 269
Undetermined strategy type
104
∑∑
373
30
S.-W. Breckle