Abstract
Germination provides many potentially unrecognized sources of variation in the regeneration niche. In this study we relate germination requirements and seed size for 16 species of pioneer trees to microclimatic conditions present in gaps in semi-deciduous rain forest in Panama. We found that, whereas increased duration of direct irradiance can be an effective indicator of the presence of a canopy gap across all scales of canopy openness, diel fluctuations in soil temperature effectively discriminate both understory sites and small gaps (25 m2) from larger gaps. Germination response was significantly related to seed size. Small-seeded species (seed mass 2 mg) germinated equally in light and darkness (wit...
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