Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé :  
1. Despite considerable interest in the application of plant functional traits to questions of community assembly and ecosystem structure and function, there is no consensus on the appropriateness of sampling designs to obtain plot-level estimates in diverse plant communities. 2. We measured 10 plant functional traits describing leaf and stem morphology and ecophysiology for all trees in nine 1-ha plots in terra firme lowland tropical rain forests of French Guiana (N = 4709). 3.We calculated, by simulation, the mean and variance in trait values for each plot and each trait expected under seven sampling methods and a range of sampling intensities. Simulated sampling methods included a variety of spatial designs, as well as the application of existing data base values to all individuals of a given species. 4. For each trait in each plot, we defined a performance index for each sampling design as the proportion of resampling events that resulted in observed means within 5% of the true plot mean, and observed variance within 20%of the true plot variance. 5. The relative performance of sampling designs was consistent for estimations of means and variances. Data base use had consistently poor performance for most traits across all plots, whereas sampling one individual per species per plot resulted in relatively high performance. We found few differences among different spatial sampling strategies; however, for a given strategy, increased intensity of sampling resulted in markedly improved accuracy in estimates of trait mean and variance. 6. We also calculated the financial cost of each sampling design based on data from our 'every individual per plot' strategy and estimated the sampling and botanical effort required. The relative performance of designs was strongly positively correlated with relative financial cost, suggesting that sampling investment returns are relatively constant. 7. Our results suggest that trait sampling for many objectives in species-rich plant communities may require the considerable effort of sampling at least one individual of each species in each plot, and that investment in complete sampling, though great, may be worthwhile for at least some traits.
Functional Ecology

hal-01032175
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01032175
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2009.01600.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The forests of French Guiana occupy a central part of the region’s potential resource base, but as yet remain almost completely unexploited. This stems from the forestry industry struggling to valorize wood stocks of a high diversity with an extremely heterogeneous distribution. Indeed, identifying essences for future propagation is an issue of both environmental and socio-economic importance for the region. Bagassa guianensis Aubl. and Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pav.) Oken. go against conventional models, in that they display the life history characteristics of rapid growth and wood of high quality, and thus are species of high potential for future plantations. Firstly, our study of growth characteristics reveals a defined strategy half way between long-lived species and pioneer species. It is the variability of basic density of wood which is a key trait allowing for such a development, favoring rapid growth in initial years whilst allowing for tree longevity. Secondly, the analysis of a range of wood properties (shrinkage, modulus of elasticity, durability) in relation to tree growth confirms the technologic quality of the two species. It also enables the emergence of new results like the effect of extractives on wood stability, the control of growth as a result of basic density variation, the evolution of leaf traits throughout tree development or the improvement of trunk maintenance thanks to interlocked grain. The knowledge gained in relation to the developmental traits of these two species, and to the quality of their wood allows for the elaboration of plantation projects and what will be required for their success. The results of this study can orientate future studies on novel species for commercialization in French Guiana.
La ressource forestière en Guyane occupe une place maîtresse au sein de la région et est encore majoritairement préservée, mais la filière bois parvient difficilement à valoriser la biodiversité locale en raison de l’hétérogénéité de la ressource. Identifier les essences à planter demain représente aujourd’hui un enjeu à la fois environnemental, économique et social pour la Guyane. Bagassa guianensis Aubl. et Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pav.) Oken. vont à l’encontre des modèles usuels en associant vitesse de croissance et qualité du bois et sont identifiées comme prometteuses pour la plantation. Dans un premier temps, l’étude de la dynamique de croissance des deux espèces révèle un modèle écologique singulier, à la fois pionnières et longévives. La variabilité de l’infradensité dans l’arbre est l’élément clé qui permet un tel développement, favorisant une croissance rapide dans les premières années tout en assurant la longévité de l’individu. Dans une seconde partie, l’analyse d’un large panel de propriétés du bois (retrait, module, durabilité) en lien avec le développement de l’arbre confirme les qualités technologiques des deux espèces et permet l’émergence de résultats novateurs tels que le rôle des extractibles sur le retrait, le contrôle de la croissance grâce aux variations d’infradensité, l’évolution des traits foliaires au cours de l’ontogénie ou encore la mise en place de contrefil dans l’arbre pour assurer son maintien. La connaissance acquise vis-à-vis du mode de développement de ces deux espèces et des facteurs influençant la qualité de leur bois permet aujourd’hui de définir avec plus de précision le cadre d’un projet de plantation et les conditions de son succès. Les résultats de cette étude permettent finalement d’orienter la recherche de nouvelles espèces d’avenir pour la plantation en Guyane.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01338281

tel-01338281
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01338281
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01338281/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01338281/file/Th%C3%A8se%20Julie%20Bossu.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : International audience
Cross-species analyses of plant functional traits have shed light on factors contributing to differences in performance and distribution, but to date most studies have focused on either leaves or stems. We extend these tissue-specific analyses of functional strategy towards a whole-plant approach by integrating data on functional traits for 13 448 leaves and wood tissues from 4672 trees representing 668 species of Neotropical trees. Strong correlations amongst traits previously defined as the leaf economics spectrum reflect a tradeoff between investments in productive leaves with rapid turnover vs. costly physical leaf structure with a long revenue stream. A second axis of variation, the 'stem economics spectrum', defines a similar tradeoff at the stem level: dense wood vs. high wood water content and thick bark. Most importantly, these two axes are orthogonal, suggesting that tradeoffs operate independently at the leaf and at the stem levels. By simplifying the multivariate ecological strategies of tropical trees into positions along these two spectra, our results provide a basis to improve global vegetation models predicting responses of tropical forests to global change.
ISSN: 1461-023X

hal-00594040
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00594040

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : 1. Niche theory proposes that species differences underlie both coexistence within communities and the differentiation in species composition among communities via limiting similarity and environmental filtering. However, it has been difficult to extend niche theory to species-rich communities because of the empirical challenge of quantifying niches for many species. This has motivated the development of functional and phylogeny-based approaches in community ecology, which represent two different means of approximating niche attributes. 2. Here, we assess the utility of plant functional traits and phylogenetic relationships in predicting community assembly processes using the largest trait and phylogenetic data base to date for any set of species-rich communities. 3. We measured 17 functional traits for all 4672 individuals of 668 tree species co-occurring in nine tropical rain forest plots in French Guiana. Trait variation was summarized into two ordination axes that reflect species niche overlap. 4. We also generated a dated molecular phylogenetic tree based on DNA sequencing of two plastid loci (rbcL and matK) comprising 97% of the individuals and 91% of the species in the plots. 5. We found that, on average, co-occurring species had greater functional and, to a lesser extent, phylogenetic similarity than expected by chance. 6. We also found that functional traits and their ordination loadings showed significant, albeit weak, phylogenetic signal, suggesting that phylogenetic distance provides pertinent information on niche overlap in tropical tree communities. 7. Synthesis. We provide the most comprehensive examination to date of the relative importance of environmental filtering and limiting similarity in structuring tropical tree communities. Our results confirm that environmental filtering is the overriding influence on community assembly in these species-rich systems.
ISSN: 0141-6707

hal-01032423
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01032423
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2012.01966.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The forests of French Guiana occupy a central part of the region’s potential resource base, but as yet remain almost completely unexploited. This stems from the forestry industry struggling to valorize wood stocks of a high diversity with an extremely heterogeneous distribution. Indeed, identifying essences for future propagation is an issue of both environmental and socio-economic importance for the region. Bagassa guianensis Aubl. and Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pav.) Oken. go against conventional models, in that they display the life history characteristics of rapid growth and wood of high quality, and thus are species of high potential for future plantations. Firstly, our study of growth characteristics reveals a defined strategy half way between long-lived species and pioneer species. It is the variability of basic density of wood which is a key trait allowing for such a development, favoring rapid growth in initial years whilst allowing for tree longevity. Secondly, the analysis of a range of wood properties (shrinkage, modulus of elasticity, durability) in relation to tree growth confirms the technologic quality of the two species. It also enables the emergence of new results like the effect of extractives on wood stability, the control of growth as a result of basic density variation, the evolution of leaf traits throughout tree development or the improvement of trunk maintenance thanks to interlocked grain. The knowledge gained in relation to the developmental traits of these two species, and to the quality of their wood allows for the elaboration of plantation projects and what will be required for their success. The results of this study can orientate future studies on novel species for commercialization in French Guiana.
La ressource forestière en Guyane occupe une place maîtresse au sein de la région et est encore majoritairement préservée, mais la filière bois parvient difficilement à valoriser la biodiversité locale en raison de l’hétérogénéité de la ressource. Identifier les essences à planter demain représente aujourd’hui un enjeu à la fois environnemental, économique et social pour la Guyane. Bagassa guianensis Aubl. et Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pav.) Oken. vont à l’encontre des modèles usuels en associant vitesse de croissance et qualité du bois et sont identifiées comme prometteuses pour la plantation. Dans un premier temps, l’étude de la dynamique de croissance des deux espèces révèle un modèle écologique singulier, à la fois pionnières et longévives. La variabilité de l’infradensité dans l’arbre est l’élément clé qui permet un tel développement, favorisant une croissance rapide dans les premières années tout en assurant la longévité de l’individu. Dans une seconde partie, l’analyse d’un large panel de propriétés du bois (retrait, module, durabilité) en lien avec le développement de l’arbre confirme les qualités technologiques des deux espèces et permet l’émergence de résultats novateurs tels que le rôle des extractibles sur le retrait, le contrôle de la croissance grâce aux variations d’infradensité, l’évolution des traits foliaires au cours de l’ontogénie ou encore la mise en place de contrefil dans l’arbre pour assurer son maintien. La connaissance acquise vis-à-vis du mode de développement de ces deux espèces et des facteurs influençant la qualité de leur bois permet aujourd’hui de définir avec plus de précision le cadre d’un projet de plantation et les conditions de son succès. Les résultats de cette étude permettent finalement d’orienter la recherche de nouvelles espèces d’avenir pour la plantation en Guyane.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01430243

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
NNT : 2015YANE0002
tel-01430243
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01430243
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01430243/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01430243/file/julie-bossu.pdf

Éditeur(s) : CRILLASH : Centre de recherches interdisciplinaires en lettres, langues, arts et sciences humaines CRILLASH : Centre de recherches interdisciplinaires en lettres, langues, arts et sciences humaines
Résumé : L'intervention comporte deux parties : 1/Comment nomme-t-on en Martinique ? José Manuel Cruz interroge les patronymes à la Martinique : noms de békés, noms d'esclaves affranchis avant 1848, noms des nouveaux citoyens attribués en 1848 par le registre d'Etat civil, nom des populations post-abolitionnistes. 2/Analyse des oeuvres littéraires : démarche discursive, manifestation de la culture et de l'identité à travers l'analyse linguistique des deux romans effectuée selon une grille et par un traitement informatisé des textes.
Martinique
18
19
20

Droits : Document protégé par le droit d'auteur
fichiers:HASH01b295da8274061a157730df

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : White-sand forests represent natural laboratories of evolution over their long history throughout Amazonia and the Guiana Shield and pose significant physiological challenges to the plants and animals they host. The study of diversification in plant lineages comprising species endemic to white-sand forest can therefore give insights into processes of evolution and community assembly in tropical forests. In this article, we synthesize recent studies of white-sand forests to integrate patterns of plant species distribution with processes of lineage diversification and community assembly in the white-sand flora. We contrast lineages that have radiated uniquely in these habitats (e.g., Pagamea, Rubiaceae), with cosmopolitan lineages comprising specialists to white-sand forests and other habitats that may have arisen via ecological speciation across habitat gradients (e.g., Protium, Burseraceae). In both cases, similar suites of functional traits have evolved, including investment in dense, long-lived tissues that are well-defended structurally and chemically. White-sand endemics, therefore, play an important role in biodiversity conservation because they represent unique combinations of functional and phylogenetic diversity. Furthermore, white-sand endemics may respond differently than other tropical forest plant species to contemporary global changes because they comprise resilient functional types that may better withstand increased drought, temperature, and invasions of exotic pests in these regions.
ISSN: 0006-3606

hal-01531635
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01531635
DOI : 10.1111/btp.12301
PRODINRA : 353397

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Ce travail traite de " l'identification de plantes à partir d'images numériques, par champs de gradients ", provenant de capteurs de types variés. Nous avons choisi des méthodes de type global, afin de pré-segmenter efficacement l'image d'une plante. Parmi ces méthodes, celle du Mean Shift permet de s'acquitter des tâches de paramétrisation, mais présente l'inconvénient d'une forte complexité de calcul. Nous proposons deux méthodes pour résoudre ce problème : le Mean Shift avec changement d'échelle et le Mean Shift Markovien dont le but est de limiter le traitement systématique de tous les pixels par la partie Mean Shift. L'application de ces méthodes permet d'obtenir une partition de l'image dans laquelle on recherche les groupes de pixels, matérialisant les parties d'une plante focalisée par le photographe. Pour mettre en évidence ces zones, nous exploitons : la netteté des formes, la position et la densité spatiale des objets dans une image, afin de construire des masques qui représentent les parties d'une plante. À partir de ces masques, nous extrayons un ensemble de caractéristiques issu de la botanique descriptive, regroupé en trois catégories : la colorimétrie, la morphologie et le structurel. Nos choix méthodologiques sont expérimentés sur une base de données d'images, pour obtenir un ensemble de valeurs de caractéristiques appelées descripteurs. Ces descripteurs sont fournis à un système de classeurs basé sur des algorithmes génétiques, afin d'obtenir des règles désignant chaque type de plantes. L'objectif de ces règles est d'associer un score de ressemblance à chaque image de la base de données, en fonction de l'image soumise comme requête au système de reconnaissance.
Journées d'Études et de recherche des Antilles et de la Guyane
Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe

hal-00637788
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00637788

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
Domestication can influence many functional traits in plants, from overall life-history and growth form to wood density and cell wall ultrastructure. Such changes can increase fitness of the domesticate in agricultural environments but may negatively affect survival in the wild. We studied effects of domestication on stem biomechanics in manioc by comparing domesticated and ancestral wild taxa from two different regions of greater Amazonia. We compared mechanical properties, tissue organisation and wood characteristics including microfibril angles in both wild and domesticated plants, each growing in two different habitats (forest or savannah) and varying in growth form (shrub or liana). Wild taxa grew as shrubs in open savannah but as lianas in overgrown and forested habitats. Growth form plasticity was retained in domesticated manioc. However, stems of the domesticate showed brittle failure. Wild plants differed in mechanical architecture between shrub and liana phenotypes, a difference that diminished between shrubs and lianas of the domesticate. Stems of wild plants were generally stiffer, failed at higher bending stresses and were less prone to brittle fracture compared with shrub and liana phenotypes of the domesticate. Biomechanical differences between stems of wild and domesticated plants were mainly due to changes in wood density and cellulose microfibril angle rather than changes in secondary growth or tissue geometry. Domestication did not significantly modify "large-scale" trait development or growth form plasticity, since both wild and domesticated manioc can develop as shrubs or lianas. However, "finer-scale" developmental traits crucial to mechanical stability and thus ecological success of the plant were significantly modified. This profoundly influenced the likelihood of brittle failure, particularly in long climbing stems, thereby also influencing the survival of the domesticate in natural situations vulnerable to mechanical perturbation. We discuss the different selective pressures that could explain evolutionary modifications of stem biomechanical properties under domestication in manioc.
PLoS ONE

halsde-00917926
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/halsde-00917926
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/halsde-00917926/document
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0074727

Éditeur(s) : Danguin
Extrait de : Mémoires de Malouet. T. 1 (Frontispice)
Résumé : Portrait de Pierre-Victor Malouet, planteur de sucre de Saint-Domingue et homme politique français dont l'activité s'exerce pendant la période de la Révolution de 1789. Il prit des positions favorables au maintien de l'esclavagisme.
Description : Anglophone et anglophile, Malouet négocie puis signe le 19 février 1793 le Traité de Whitehall entre les anglais et les colons de Saint-Domingue, la Martinique et la Guadeloupe, qui permet à ces derniers de combattre la Révolution française et l'émancipation des noirs, afin de récupérer la fiscalité sur les plantations de sucre française (source Wikipédia).

Droits : Domaine public
Permalien : http://www.manioc.org/images/SCH132370010i1
SCH132370010i1

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD INRA/EDP Sciences
Résumé : Deux espèces de la forêt de basse altitude d'Amérique tropicale (Antilles), Tabebebuia heterophylla (poirier-pays) et Hymenaea courbaril (courbaril), se révèlent intéressantes pour le reboisement des régions les moins arrosées. Le comportement de ces espèces vis-à-vis de la sécheresse est étudié grâce à un traitement sous forme d'arrosage différencié appliqué à des jeunes plants âgés de 1 an, en pépinière. L'évolution de l'état hydrique des plants est suivie au cours de 6 mois d'expérience à l'aide de la bombe à pression. Les valeurs caractéristiques du potentiel hydrique, du potentiel de base (Pb) et du potentiel minimum (Pm), sont étudiées. La cinétique journalière du potentiel de base indique que le poirier-pays se comporte comme une espèce plus économe de son eau que le courbaril. Toutefois, le meilleur enracinement du poirier-pays provoque un rapide dessèchement du sol. Ceci se traduit par une chute plus précoce du potentiel de base de cette espèce dans les lots moins arrosés (arrosage 1 fois par semaine). Durant la phase de dessèchement, l'évolution de la différence Pm-Pb indique une fermeture stomatique maximale pour un potentiel de base plus élevé pour le poirier-pays (-25 bars) que pour le courbaril (-32 bars). Les résultats obtenus dans les mesures d'élongation des axes montrent que l'arrêt de croissance pour les deux espèces se produit pour des valeurs élevées de Pb voisines de - 6 bars pour le poirier-pays et - 7 bars pour le courbaril. Dans les deux cas, seule la fréquence de 1 arrosage hebdomadaire réduit de façon notable la formation de matière sèche et la croissance chez les plants.
ISSN: 0003-4312

hal-01032356
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01032356

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : Functional aspects of biodiversity were investigated in a lowland tropical rainforest in French Guyana (5°2'N, annual precipitation 2200 mm). We assessed leaf '15N as a presumptive indicator of symbiotic N2 fixation, and leaf and wood cellulose '13C as an indicator of leaf intrinsic water-use efficiency (CO2 assimilation rate/leaf conductance for water vapour) in dominant trees of 21 species selected for their representativeness in the forest cover, their ecological strategy (pioneers or late successional stage species, shade tolerance) or their potential ability for N2 fixation. Similar measurements were made in trees of native species growing in a nearby plantation after severe perturbation (clear cutting, mechanical soil disturbance). Bulk soil '15N was spatially quite uniform in the forest (range 3-5‰), whereas average leaf '15N ranged from m0.3‰ to 3.5‰ in the different species. Three species only, Diplotropis purpurea, Recordoxylon speciosum (Fabaceae), and Sclerolobium melinonii (Caesalpiniaceae), had root bacterial nodules, which was also associated with leaf N concentrations higher than 20 mg gm1. Although nodulated trees displayed significantly lower leaf '15N values than non-nodulated trees, leaf '15N did not prove a straightforward indicator of symbiotic fixation, since there was a clear overlap of '15N values for nodulated and non-nodulated species at the lower end of the '15N range. Perturbation did not markedly affect the difference '15Nsoil m '15Nleaf, and thus the isotopic data provide no evidence of an alteration in the different N acquisition patterns. Extremely large interspecific differences in sunlit leaf '13C were observed in the forest (average values from m31.4 to m26.7‰), corresponding to intrinsic water-use efficiencies (ratio CO2 assimilation rate/leaf conductance for water vapour) varying over a threefold range. Wood cellulose '13C was positively related to total leaf '13C, the former values being 2-3‰ higher than the latter ones. Leaf '13C was not related to leaf '15N at either intraspecific or interspecific levels. '13C of sunlit leaves was highest in shade hemitolerant emergent species and was lower in heliophilic, but also in shade-tolerant species. For a given species, leaf '13C did not differ between the pristine forest and the disturbed plantation conditions. Our results are not in accord with the concept of existence of functional types of species characterized by common suites of traits underlying niche differentiation; rather, they support the hypothesis that each trait leads to a separate grouping of species.
ISSN: 0029-8549

hal-01032378
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01032378
DOI : 10.1007/s004420050593

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé :  
Cross-species analyses of plant functional traits have shed light on factors contributing to differences in performance and distribution, but to date most studies have focused on either leaves or stems. We extend these tissue-specific analyses of functional strategy towards a whole-plant approach by integrating data on functional traits for 13 448 leaves and wood tissues from 4672 trees representing 668 species of Neotropical trees. Strong correlations amongst traits previously defined as the leaf economics spectrum reflect a tradeoff between investments in productive leaves with rapid turnover vs. costly physical leaf structure with a long revenue stream. A second axis of variation, the 'stem economics spectrum', defines a similar tradeoff at the stem level: dense wood vs. high wood water content and thick bark. Most importantly, these two axes are orthogonal, suggesting that tradeoffs operate independently at the leaf and at the stem levels. By simplifying the multivariate ecological strategies of tropical trees into positions along these two spectra, our results provide a basis to improve global vegetation models predicting responses of tropical forests to global change.
Ecology Letters

hal-01032142
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01032142
DOI : 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01517.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
Mutualisms, or interactions between species that lead to net fitness benefits for each species involved, are stable and ubiquitous in nature mostly due to "byproduct benefits" stemming from the intrinsic traits of one partner that generate an indirect and positive outcome for the other. Here we verify if myrmecotrophy (where plants obtain nutrients from the refuse of their associated ants) can explain the stability of the tripartite association between the myrmecophyte Hirtella physophora, the ant Allomerus decemarticulatus and an Ascomycota fungus. The plant shelters and provides the ants with extrafloral nectar. The ants protect the plant from herbivores and integrate the fungus into the construction of a trap that they use to capture prey; they also provide the fungus and their host plant with nutrients. During a 9-month field study, we over-provisioned experimental ant colonies with insects, enhancing colony fitness (i.e., more winged females were produced). The rate of partial castration of the host plant, previously demonstrated, was not influenced by the experiment. Experimental plants showed higher δ¹⁵N values (confirming myrmecotrophy), plus enhanced vegetative growth (e.g., more leaves produced increased the possibility of lodging ants in leaf pouches) and fitness (i.e., more fruits produced and more flowers that matured into fruit). This study highlights the importance of myrmecotrophy on host plant fitness and the stability of ant-myrmecophyte mutualisms.
PLoS ONE

hal-00913754
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00913754
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00913754/document
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0059405
OATAO : 10202

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : Plant germination and development depend upon a seed's successful dispersal into a suitable habitat and its ability to grow and survive within the surrounding biotic and abiotic environment. The seeds of Aechmea mertensii, a tank-bromeliad species, are dispersed by either Camponotus femoratus or Neoponera goeldii, two ant species that initiate ant gardens (AGs). These two mutualistic ant species influence the vegetative and reproductive traits of the bromeliad through their divergent ecological preferences (i.e. light and substrate). We hypothesised that the seeds dispersed by these two ant species have underlying genetic differences affecting germination, growth and survival of A.mertensii seedlings in different ways. To test this, we used an experimental approach consisting of sowing seeds of A.mertensii: (i) taken from the two AG-ant associations (i.e. seed origin), (ii) in two contrasting light conditions, and (iii) on three different substrates. Light and substrate had significant effects on germination, survival and on eight key leaf traits reflecting plant performance. Seed origin had a significant effect only on germination and on two leaf traits (total dry mass and relative growth rate). Overall, this bromeliad performs better (i.e. high growth and survival rates) when growing both in the shade and in the carton nest developed by C.femoratus ants. These results suggest that the plasticity of the tank bromeliad A.mertensii is mainly due to environment but also to genetic differences related to seed origin, as some traits are heritable. Thus, these two ant species may play contrasting roles in shaping plant evolution and speciation.
ISSN: 1435-8603

hal-01606565
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01606565
DOI : 10.1111/plb.12452
PRODINRA : 407514

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé :  
Quantitative genetic diversity is a fundamental component of the interaction between natural populations and their environment. In breeding programmes, quantitative genetic studies on tropical trees have so far focused on fast-growing, light-demanding species, but no information exists on shade-tolerant, slow-growing species. For this study, 27 3-year-old open-pollinated families of the Neotropical shade-tolerant rainforest tree Sextonia rubra were measured in semicontrolled conditions for 20 morphological, growth, and photosynthesis traits; the effect of genetic relatedness, habitat of provenance, and mother tree status on seedling traits was analysed. Nine traits displayed significant genetic effects, while mother tree status and habitat effects were not significant (P>0.05) for an y trait. Estimated heritability varied between 0.14 and 0.28, with growth-related traits having the highest values. Additive genetic variation correlated positively with nonheritable variation, suggesting that ecological-evolutionary factors increasing or decreasing additive genetic variance may also affect nonheritable variation in the same direction. Our results suggest that quantitative genetic variability should be taken into account in ecological studies on, and in the management of, natural tropical rainforests; further research is needed to investigate genetic × environment interactions, in particular from the point of view of the genetic response of shade-tolerant plant species to variations in light availability.
ISSN: 1614-2942

hal-01032145
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01032145
DOI : 10.1007/s11295-009-0251-8

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Ecological Society of America
Résumé : CABI:20153174020
Understanding how plants are constructed - i.e., how key size dimensions and the amount of mass invested in different tissues varies among individuals - is essential for modeling plant growth, carbon stocks, and energy fluxes in the terrestrial biosphere. Allocation patterns can differ through ontogeny, but also among coexisting species and among species adapted to different environments. While a variety of models dealing with biomass allocation exist, we lack a synthetic understanding of the underlying processes. This is partly due to the lack of suitable data sets for validating and parameterizing models. To that end, we present the Biomass And Allometry Database (BAAD) for woody plants. The BAAD contains 259634 measurements collected in 176 different studies, from 21084 individuals across 678 species. Most of these data come from existing publications. However, raw data were rarely made public at the time of publication. Thus, the BAAD contains data from different studies, transformed into standard units and variable names. The transformations were achieved using a common workflow for all raw data files. Other features that distinguish the BAAD are: (i) measurements were for individual plants rather than stand averages; (ii) individuals spanning a range of sizes were measured; (iii) plants from 0.01-100 m in height were included; and (iv) biomass was estimated directly, i.e., not indirectly via allometric equations (except in very large trees where biomass was estimated from detailed sub-sampling). We included both wild and artificially grown plants. The data set contains the following size metrics: total leaf area; area of stem cross-section including sapwood, heartwood, and bark; height of plant and crown base, crown area, and surface area; and the dry mass of leaf, stem, branches, sapwood, heartwood, bark, coarse roots, and fine root tissues. We also report other properties of individuals (age, leaf size, leaf mass per area, wood density, nitrogen content of leaves and wood), as well as information about the growing environment (location, light, experimental treatment, vegetation type) where available. It is our hope that making these data available will improve our ability to understand plant growth, ecosystem dynamics, and carbon cycling in the world's vegetation.
ISSN: 0012-9658

hal-01535227
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01535227
DOI : 10.1890/14-1889.1
PRODINRA : 306122

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Royal Society, The
Résumé : Species engaged in multiple, simultaneous mutualisms are subject to trade-offs in their mutualistic investment if the traits involved in each interaction are overlapping, which can lead to conflicts and affect the longevity of these associations. We investigate this issue via a tripartite mutualism involving an ant plant, two competing ant species and a fungus the ants cultivate to build galleries under the stems of their host plant to capture insect prey. The use of the galleries represents an innovative prey capture strategy compared with the more typical strategy of foraging on leaves. However, because of a limited worker force in their colonies, the prey capture behaviour of the ants results in a trade-off between plant protection (i.e. the ants patrol the foliage and attack intruders including herbivores) and ambushing prey in the galleries, which has a cascading effect on the fitness of all of the partners. The quantification of partners' traits and effects showed that the two ant species differed in their mutualistic investment. Less investment in the galleries (i.e. in fungal cultivation) translated into more benefits for the plant in terms of less herbivory and higher growth rates and vice versa. However, the greater vegetative growth of the plants did not produce a positive fitness effect for the better mutualistic ant species in terms of colony size and production of sexuals nor was the mutualist compensated by the wider dispersal of its queens. As a consequence, although the better ant mutualist is the one that provides more benefits to its host plant, its lower host–plant exploitation does not give this ant species a competitive advantage. The local coexistence of the ant species is thus fleeting and should eventually lead to the exclusion of the less competitive species.
ISSN: 0962-8452

hal-01608641
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01608641
DOI : 10.1098/rspb.2016.1679
PRODINRA : 405078

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : Decomposing litter provides critical nutrients for plants, particularly in nutrient-poor ecosystems such as tropical forests. We hypothesised that decomposing litter improves the performance of a variety of tropical tree seedlings, and that this litter effect varies depending on the species of litter present in litter mixtures. We addressed these hypotheses with a large pot experiment manipulating a range of different litter mixtures of contrasting quality and using seedlings of four tree species from the Amazonian forest of French Guiana. In contrast to our initial hypothesis, decomposing litter had either neutral or negative impacts on seedling growth, despite strongly different growth rates, biomass allocation patterns and leaf and root traits among tree species. Tree species varied in their responses to litter additions, which were further modified by species identity of the added litter. Our data show litter species-specific effects on growth, biomass allocation and leaf and root traits of tropical tree seedlings. These results suggest that a net nutrient release from decomposing litter does not necessarily improve tree seedling growth, even under nutrient-limiting conditions. In conclusion, litter layer composition may affect seedling establishment and recruitment success beyond litter-derived plant nutrient availability, which may contribute to tree species composition and dynamics in the studied tropical forest.
ISSN: 1435-8603

hal-01032421
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01032421
DOI : 10.1111/j.1438-8677.2011.00534.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : 1. Functional traits provide insight into a variety of ecological questions, yet the optimal sampling method to estimate the community-level distribution of plant functional trait values remains a subject of debate, especially in species-rich forests. 2. We present a simulation analysis of the trait distribution of a set of nine completely sampled permanent plots in the lowland rain forests of French Guiana. 3. Increased sampling intensity consistently improved accuracy in estimating community-weighted means and variances of functional trait values, whereas there was substantial variation among functional traits and minor differences among sampling strategies. 4. Thus, investment in intensified sampling yields a greater improvement in the accuracy of estimation than does an equivalent investment in sampling design complication. 5. Notably, 'taxon-free' strategies frequently had greater accuracy than did abundance-based strategies, which had the additional cost of requiring botanical surveys. 6. We conclude that there is no substitute for extensive field sampling to accurately characterize the distribution of functional trait values in species-rich forests.
ISSN: 0269-8463

hal-01536541
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01536541
PRODINRA : 343202
DOI : 10.1111/1365-2435.12433