Changes in Phylogenetic Community Structure of the Seedling Layer Following Hurricane Disturbance in a Human-Impacted Tropical Forest

摘要: Disturbance plays a key role in shaping forest composition and diversity. We used community phylogeny long-term dynamics data to investigate biotic abiotic factors tropical regeneration following both human natural disturbance. Specifically, we examined shifts seedling phylogenetic functional (i.e., seed mass) structure over decade major hurricane human-impacted Puerto Rico. Phylogenetic relatedness of the decreased first five years post-hurricane then increased, largely driven by changes abundance common palm species. Functional (based on became increasingly clustered through time, due canopy closure causing small-seeded, light-demanding species decline abundance. Seedling neighbor density negatively affected survival, which likely acted reduce within plots. Across study site, areas impacted past high-intensity land use had lower or similar communities than low-intensity areas, reflecting interactive effects Our demonstrates how information offer insights into structuring recovery