caa a22 4500 467885729 CHVBK 20180406152733.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170328e20060601xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10021-006-0065-6 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10021-006-0065-6 Rain Forest Islands in the Chilean Semiarid Region: Fog-dependency, Ecosystem Persistence and Tree Regeneration [Elektronische Daten] [Ek del-Val, Juan Armesto, Olga Barbosa, Duncan Christie, Alvaro Gutiérrez, Clive Jones, Pablo Marquet, Kathleen Weathers] Tree presence in semiarid ecosystems is generally constrained by insufficient annual rainfall. However, in semiarid Chile, rainforest patches dominated by Aextoxicon punctatum are unexpectedly found on coastal mountaintops (450-600 m) at 30°S, surrounded by a xerophytic vegetation matrix that receives only 147 mm of annual precipitation. It has been proposed that these forests persist as a result of fog-water inputs. If so, then because fog-water deposition is spatially heterogeneous and shows strong edge effects, the potential environmental gradient created by the direction of fog input should determine forest structure and tree regeneration patterns. To investigate this hypothesis, we measured fog inputs, forest structural attributes (age and size distribution, basal area, and coarse woody debris), and tree regeneration in three different habitats: the windward edges (WE), leeward edges (LE), and the interior (center) of rainforest patches varying in area from 0.2 to 22 ha. Mean fog-water input was estimated from passive collectors over 1 year in WE and LE of patches. Tree regeneration was greater in the WE and forest interior (FI) and decreased toward the LE of patches, following a marked pattern of decline in fog inputs. Older trees and coarse woody debris were concentrated in the FI and LE of patches. Tree regeneration and patch structure appear to be largely controlled by fog-input direction and edge effects. We propose that forest patches may be slowly growing toward the incoming fog edge, while dying at the opposite edge. Springer Science+Business Media, Inc., 2006 Aextoxicon punctatum nationallicence edge effects nationallicence forest structure nationallicence tree regeneration nationallicence mortality nationallicence water limitation nationallicence Chile nationallicence del-Val Ek Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Departamento de Ecología, Facultad Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile aut Armesto Juan Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Departamento de Ecología, Facultad Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile aut Barbosa Olga Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Departamento de Ecología, Facultad Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile aut Christie Duncan Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Departamento de Ecología, Facultad Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile aut Gutiérrez Alvaro Centro milenio para Estudios Avanzados en Ecologia e Investigación en Biodiversidad (CMEB), Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile aut Jones Clive Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Box AB, 12545, Millbrook, New York, USA aut Marquet Pablo Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Departamento de Ecología, Facultad Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile aut Weathers Kathleen Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Box AB, 12545, Millbrook, New York, USA aut Ecosystems Springer-Verlag; www.springer-ny.com 9/4(2006-06-01), 598-608 1432-9840 9:4<598 2006 9 10021 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-006-0065-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-006-0065-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- del-Val Ek Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Departamento de Ecología, Facultad Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Armesto Juan Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Departamento de Ecología, Facultad Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Barbosa Olga Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Departamento de Ecología, Facultad Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Christie Duncan Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Departamento de Ecología, Facultad Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Gutiérrez Alvaro Centro milenio para Estudios Avanzados en Ecologia e Investigación en Biodiversidad (CMEB), Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Jones Clive Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Box AB, 12545, Millbrook, New York, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Marquet Pablo Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Departamento de Ecología, Facultad Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Weathers Kathleen Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Box AB, 12545, Millbrook, New York, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Ecosystems Springer-Verlag; www.springer-ny.com 9/4(2006-06-01), 598-608 1432-9840 9:4<598 2006 9 10021 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer