Physical Damage to Artificial Seedlings in Relation to Distance from Tropical Forest Edges

Litterfall can be a major cause of seedling mortality and damage in tropical forests, and is often elevated near forest edges. We predicted that, in Soberania National Park in central Panama, the proportion of experimental seedlings damaged by litterfall would be higher at forest edges than in the forest interior. Over a 16-week period during the rainy season, 41% of 1260 experimental seedlings were damaged, but just 4% were clearly damaged by litterfall. We found no consistent trend in litterfall damage with respect to distance from edge, although there were higher proportions of total seedling damage in the forest interior which were caused by factors other than litterfall. Resumen. La hojarasca puede ser una de las causas mas importantes en el dano y la mortalidad de plantulas en los bosques tropicales, y es frecuentemente mas abundante en los hordes. Predijimos que en el Parque Nacional Soberania en el centro de Panama, la proporcion de plantulas experimental es derribadas por hojarasca es mas alta cerca del horde del bosque que en el interior. En un periodo de 16 semanas durante la estacion lluviosa 41% de las plantulas fueron derribadas pero solo 4% a causa de la hojarasca. No encontramos un patron consistente en el dano causado por la hojarasca con respecto a la distancia desde el horde, aunque se encontraron proporciones total es mas altas de dano de plantulas en el interior del bosque, ocasionadas por otros factores. Accepted 22 May 2006.