TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ferry, B.
AU  - Bontemps, J.-D.
AU  - Blanc, L.
AU  - Baraloto, C.
PY  - 2012//
TI  - Is climate a stronger driver of tree growth than disturbance? A comment on Toledo et al. (2011)
T2  - J. Ecol.
JO  - Journal of Ecology
SP  - 1065
EP  - 1068
VL  - 100
IS  - 5
KW  - Basal area change
KW  - Bolivia
KW  - Climate
KW  - Disturbance
KW  - Logging
KW  - Plant-climate interactions
KW  - Tree growth
KW  - Tropical forest
N2  - 1.A recent article published by Toledo (2011b) investigates the effects of spatial variations in climate and soil, and of logging disturbance, on tree and forest growth in Bolivia. It concludes that climate is the strongest driver of tree and forest growth and that climate change may therefore have large consequences for forest productivity and carbon sequestration. However, serious methodological and conceptual discrepancies have been found that challenge these conclusions. 2.Because of an errant coding of 'time after logging' in the regression analysis, and because floristic changes induced by logging could not be incorporated into the analysis, the effect of logging on the average diameter growth is likely to have been strongly underestimated. 3.Basal area growth was improperly calculated as basal area change, and it displayed surprisingly high values, even among unlogged plots. We hypothesize that either these plots may be actually located in secondary forests recovering from past logging, or measurement biases may have hampered the data set. 4.Regardless of climate-growth relationships established across these plots, any inference concerning the potential effects of climate change on forest growth would require a specific quantitative assessment. 5.Synthesis. It is critical to re-assess the relative weight of climate and logging disturbance as driving factors of tree and forest growth, and to find an explanation for the very high basal area increment reported among the unlogged plots. We provide specific recommendations for further analyses of this and similar data sets. © 2012 British Ecological Society.
SN  - 00220477 (Issn)
UR  - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84865302677&partnerID=40&md5=197f2762412cc94adfd1e087bd359c24
N1  - Cited By (since 1996): 1; Export Date: 4 September 2012; Source: Scopus; Coden: Jecoa; doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2011.01895.x; Language of Original Document: English; Correspondence Address: Ferry, B.; AgroParisTech, ENGREF-Nancy, UMR 1092, F-54000 Nancy, France; email: bruno.ferry@engref.agroparistech.fr
ID  - Ferry_etal2012
ER  -