Life History and Demography of Oenocarpus Bataua Var Bataua in the Central Andean Cordillera, Colombia
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Life history and demography of Oenocarpus bataua var bataua in the Central Andean Cordillera, Colombia Juan Raimundo Guarín Duque Universidad Nacional de Colombia Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Departamento de Ciencias Forestales Medellín, Colombia 2013 Life history and demography of Oenocarpus bataua var bataua in the Central Andean Cordillera, Colombia Life history and demography of Oenocarpus bataua var bataua in the Central Andean Cordillera, Colombia Juan Raimundo Guarín Duque Tesis de investigación presentada como requisito parcial para optar al título de: Magister en Bosques y Conservación Ambiental Director: Jorge Ignacio del Valle Arango, Profesor Línea de Investigación: Ecología Universidad Nacional de Colombia Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Departamento de Ciencias Forestales Medellín, Colombia 2013 III Dedicated to my beautiful mother María H. Duque Life history and demography of Oenocarpus bataua var bataua in the Central Andean Cordillera, Colombia ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my most sincere gratitude and appreciation to Jorge Ignacio del Valle, my major professor, for his continuous support, his guidance, encouragement, and intellectual stimulation. I remain grateful to him for taking me on as student on the processes of this interesting research. I would like to thank Carlos A. Sierra for some radiocarbon analyzes in Max Plank Intitute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany. Most importantly, none of this would have been possible without the love, economic support and patience of my family. Resumen y Abstract V RESUMEN GENERAL Esta tesis comprendió dos artículos, ambos aceptados por la revista Forest Ecology and Management. Nosotros modelamos el crecimiento en altura de Oenocarpus bataua var bataua en bosques premontanos de la cordillera Central de Colombia, determinamos la duración de la fase de establecimiento, el patrón espacial, sus atributos vitales y su demografía. Para ello empleamos 36 parcelas permanentes censadas hasta 13.4 años. La modelación del crecimiento en función de la edad se validó mediante dataciones con 14C, la fase de establecimiento datada con 14C tuvo una duración de 37.5±0.7 años. Algunos otros resultados fueron: la estructura de alturas y de edades en forma de campana sugieren que esta población no es sostenible en el largo plazo, el tiempo de duplicación supera en 8.1 años la vida media demuestran que esta población está declinando. Sugerimos que el patrón espacial gregario a nivel del paisaje podría deberse a explotaciones selectivas de árboles de las cuales presentamos evidencias que se remontan cerca de 90 años atrás. Sugerimos que los grupos de O. bataua se establecieron inmediatamente después de estas cortas selectivas maderables. Palabras clave: atributos vitales, datación por 14C, demografía, duración de la fase de establecimiento, estimación de la edad, modelación del crecimiento del estípite, Oenocarpus bataua. Life history and demography of Oenocarpus bataua var bataua in the Central Andean Cordillera, Colombia GENERAL ABSTRACT This thesis involves two papers, both accepted by Forest Ecology and Management. We model the growth in height of Oenocarpus bataua var. bataua as a function of age in premontane forest of the Central Cordillera, Colombia and the duration of the establishment phase, the spatial pattern, its vital attributes, and its demography. To do this we used 36 permanent plots censuses up to 13.4 years. The height growth model as a function on age was validated by 14C dating, the establishment phase dated by 14C lasted 37.5 ± 0.7 years. Some other results were: the structure of heights and ages in bell-shaped suggests that this population is not sustainable in the long term, the doubling time that exceeds in 8.1 years the half-life shows that this population is declining. We suggest that the clumped spatial pattern at the landscape level could be due to selective logging about which we present evidences dating back nearly 90 years ago. We suggest that groups of O. bataua were established immediately after the selective logging of trees. Keywords: age estimation, 14C bomb dating, Oenocarpus bataua, demography, stipe growth modeling, establishment duration, vital attributes. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 Modeling the stipe growth of the Oenocarpus bataua palm in the Central Cordillera of the Andes, Colombia ................................................................................ 10 1.1 Abstract ................................................................................................................ 10 1.2 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 11 1.3 Methods ................................................................................................................ 13 1.3.1 Study area .......................................................................................................... 13 1.3.2 Establishment of plots and data collection ........................................................ 13 1.3.3 Age estimation by the RLS ................................................................................. 14 1.3.4 Study of the organic growth of the stipes .......................................................... 15 1.3.5 Validation of the two equations used to estimate the age of the stipes of O. bataua 15 1.3.6 The vital attributes of O. bataua ........................................................................ 16 1.4 Results .................................................................................................................. 17 1.4.1 The vertical structure and annual rate of leaf scars (RLS) ............................... 17 1.4.2 The annual growth rate in length of the stipe (RGL) ........................................ 20 1.4.3 Growth of the stipe of O. bataua based on the leaf scars plus crown leaves (SPL) 20 1.4.4 Age estimation based on the length growth rates (RGL) ................................... 22 1.4.5 Independent validation of stipe age ................................................................... 22 1.4.6 Vital attributes of O. bataua .............................................................................. 25 1.5 Discussion ............................................................................................................ 26 1.5.1 Studies of organic growth and the RLS versus the MRLS ................................. 26 1.5.2 Vital attributes of O. Bataua.............................................................................. 30 1.6 Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 31 1.7 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. 32 1.8 References ............................................................................................................ 33 8 Life history and demography of Oenocarpus bataua var bataua in the Central Andean Cordillera, Colombia Chapter 2 Establishent phase, spatial pattern, age, and demography of Oenocarpus bataua var. bataua can be a legacy of past loggings in the Colombian Andes 39 2.1 Abstract ................................................................................................................ 39 2.2 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 40 2.3 Methods ................................................................................................................ 44 2.3.1 Study area .......................................................................................................... 44 2.3.2 Data collection .................................................................................................. 44 2.3.3 Exponential growth and mortality ..................................................................... 45 2.3.4 Spatial pattern of O. bataua .............................................................................. 45 2.3.5 The age of aerial and subterranean stems......................................................... 46 2.4 Result .................................................................................................................... 48 2.4.1 The adult underground axis of O. bataua.......................................................... 48 2.4.2 Dating the duration of the establishment phase and palms’ age ...................... 50 2.4.3 Spatial pattern of adult palms at landscape scale ............................................. 57 2.4.4 Demographic results.......................................................................................... 58 2.4.5 Patch dynamics of O. bataua var. bataua ......................................................... 59 2.5 Discussion ............................................................................................................ 59 2.5.1 Shape and duration of the underground axis of O. bataua var. bataua ............ 59 2.5.2 Diameter-length relationship and age at first flowering ................................... 62 2.5.3 The age of O. bataua var. bataua palms ........................................................... 63 2.5.4 Spatial pattern ................................................................................................... 63 2.5.5 O. bataua var. bataua and patch dynamics ....................................................... 64 2.6 Conclusions .........................................................................................................