Analysis of 10 years of remote sensing data from Panama finds that the adult population of the canopy tree Handroanthus guayacan is more likely to increase in places where it is rare than in locations where it is already common, a finding that supports the Janzen-Connell hypothesis, which holds that negative feedback prevents species from becoming abundant and contributes to biological diversity in tropical rain forests; the study finds, however, that constraints on population growth were insufficient to stabilize the tree population, which increased in size over 10 years.
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Article #18-00353: "Density-dependent adult recruitment in a low-density tropical tree," by James R. Kellner and Stephen Hubbell.
MEDIA CONTACT: James R. Kellner, Brown University, Providence, RI; tel: 401-863-5768, 706-201-5822; e-mail: < James_R_Kellner@brown.edu >
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences