Monteverde : Ecology and Conservation of a Tropical Cloud Forest

Figure 820, Number of species of bird-dispersed trees in the Lauraceae

flowering (A) or fruiting (B) in Monteverde. Only species in which at least 20%

of the population reproduced are included.

FRUITING PHENOLOGIES OF PIONEER PLANTS: CONSTRAINTS IMPOSED

BY FLOWERING PHENOLOGY, DISTURBANCE REGIME, AND DISPERSER

MIGRATION PATTERNS

K, Greg Murray

o consensus exists regarding which factors
have been important in the evolution of sea-
sonal patterns of flowering and fruiting in the
humid tropics. I examined the potential of three fac-
tors to act as selective agents in the evolution of fruit-
ing phenology in three species of pioneer plants in
Monteverde: seasonal constraints imposed by flow-
ering phenology, seasonal patterns in the availability

of dispersers, and seasonal availability of colonization

sites (treefall gaps),

Phenological data were collected on 24 monthly

censuses of eight Phytolacca rivinoides, 36 Wither-

ingia meiantha, and 33 W. coccoloboides plants scat-

tered throughout the "Triangle" portion of the MCFP

(Murray 1987). Fruit ripening in P, rivinoides and

W. coccoloboides is concentrated in the early rainy

283 Plant-Animal Interactions

n