Global Ecology and Biogeography, (Global Ecol. Biogeogr.) (2004) 13, 409–425 Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. RESEARCH Environmental control of flowering PAPER periodicity in Costa Rican and Mexican tropical dry forests Rolf Borchert†*, Stefanie A. Meyer‡, Richard S. Felger§ and Luciana Porter-Bolland¶ †Division of Biological Sciences, University of ABSTRACT Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045–7534, USA, ‡Las Delicias 11, Alamos, Sonora, Mexico, §Drylands Aim We analyse the proximate causes of the large variation in flowering periodicity Institute, PMB 405, 2509 North Campbell among four tropical dry forests (TDF) and ask whether climatic periodicity or biotic Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA, ¶Instituto de interactions are the ultimate causes of flowering periodicity. Ecología, A. C., Km. 2.5, Antigua Carretera a Location The four TDFs in Guanacaste (Costa Rica), Yucatan, Jalisco and Sonora Coatepec 351; C.P. 91070 Xalapa, Veracruz, (Mexico) are characterized by a 5–7 month long dry season and are located along a México. E-mail:
[email protected] gradient of increasing latitude (10–30°N). Methods To dissect the differences in flowering periodicity observed at the com- munity level, individual tree species were assigned to ‘flowering types’, i.e. groups of species with characteristic flowering periods determined by similar combinations of environmental flowering cues and vegetative phenology. Results Large variation in the fraction of species and flowering types blooming during the dry and wet season, respectively, indicates large differences in the severity of seasonal drought among the four forests. In the dry upland forests of Jalisco, flowering of leafless trees remains suppressed during severe seasonal drought and is triggered by the first rains of the wet season.