Chapter 12 - Effect of climate change on regeneration of plants from seeds in tropical wet forests

Abstract

Tropical forests account for more than half of the above-ground carbon on planet earth. Changes in species and trait composition resulting from climate change may strongly influence this carbon pool and therefore the global carbon cycle. We highlight how climate change may impact forest regeneration processes in tropical wet forests by altering the frequency of environmental cues for flowering, seed provisioning, seed germination success, and seedling survival. Furthermore, we emphasize the potential for alterations to seedling community composition via interspecific variation in sensitivity to elevated temperatures, trade-offs between shade and drought tolerance, and species differences in the ability to overcome nutrient limitation under elevated CO2. Understanding the importance of each of these mechanisms will require a new generation of in situ experiments that account for the direct effects of climatic drivers and indirect effects arising from complex interactions between plants and their suites of mutualists and natural enemies.