Schubert, Spencer C.; Zahawi, Rakan A.; Oviedo‐Brenes, Federico; Rosales, Juan Abel; Holl, Karen D. | 2026

Description

STUDY AREA AND BACKGROUND ON EXPERIMENT
Data collection occurred Jun-Jul 2022 in Coto Brus county of southern Costa Rica near Las Cruces Biological Station. The data represent full censuses of 26 plots from 10 restoration sites and six plots sampled from mature reference forests in adjacent areas at six of these locations. Restored areas were designed to have an area of 0.25 ha with either 48x48 m or 42x54 m dimensions with a ≥5-m buffer. Restoration experiments initiated in 2004-2006, when each plot received one of three randomized treatments: natural regeneration n = 9 plots, applied nucleation n = 9, or plantation n = 8. Some of the sites were missing one or two treatments due to their being destroyed or heavily damaged by this point in the study, and so were not censused. Plantations were uniformly planted with tree seedlings. Applied nucleation treatment was planted with six tree islands of three sizes: two each of 4×4, 8×8, and 12×12 m. Planted seedling spacing was kept constant (~2.8 m) in the plantation and applied nucleation treatments; 313 trees were planted in the plantation, 86 in the applied nucleation, and none in natural regeneration plots (see Holl et al. 2011 for further details). All plots (including natural regeneration) were cleared to ground level by machete at ~3-month intervals for the first 2.5 years to allow planted tree seedlings to grow above existing vegetation. We planted seedlings (20-30 cm tall) of four tree species; these included two native late-successional species, Terminalia amazonia (J.F. Gmel.) Exell (Combretaceae) and Vochysia guatemalensis Donn. Sm. (Vochysiaceae), and two naturalized early-successional species, Erythrina poeppigiana (Walp.) Skeels and Inga edulis Mart. (both Fabaceae) that are used widely in intercropping systems in Central America.

Keywords

Natural sciences applied nucleation community composition forest dynamics Late-successional seed size succession tree islands tropical forest

Related Paper

Spencer C. Schubert, Rakan A. Zahawi, Federico Oviedo‐Brenes, Juan Abel Rosales, Karen D. Holl (2026). Restoration Method Influences Spatial Patterns of Tree Seedling and Sapling Recruitment in the Second Decade of Tropical Forest Recovery. Applied Vegetation Science, 29. https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.70058

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