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Irregular droughts trigger mass flowering in aseasonal tropical forests in asia¹

²Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Otsu 520-2113, Japan; ³Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto 602-0878, Japan; ⁴Department of Agriculture, Ehime University, Matsuyama 790-8566, Japan; ⁵University Forest in Aichi, University of Tokyo, Seto, Aichi, 489-0031, Japan; ⁶The Kyoto University Museum, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan; ⁷Hydrospheric Atmospheric Research Center, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan; ⁸Forest Research Center, Forestry Corporation, Kuching 6 Mile Road, Sarawak 93250, Malaysia; ⁹Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan

ABSTRACT

General flowering is a community-wide masting phenomenon, which is thus far documented only in aseasonal tropical forests in Asia. Although the canopy and emergent layers of forests in this region are dominated by species of a single family, Dipterocarpaceae, general flowering involves various plant groups. Studying proximate factors and estimating the flowering patterns of the past and future may aid our understanding of the ecological significance and evolutionary factors behind this phenomenon. Here we show that this phenomenon is most likely triggered by irregular droughts based on 10 years of observations. In the aseasonal forests of SE Asia, droughts tend to occur during transition periods from La Niña to El Niño, which results in an irregular 6–7-yr cycle involving a dry period with several droughts and a wet period without droughts. The magnitude of a flowering event also depends on the timing of droughts associated with the El Niño southern oscillation (ENSO) cycle, with the largest events occurring after an interval of several years with no flowering. Because most plant species can only reproduce successfully during large flowering events, changes in the ENSO cycle resulting from global warming, may have serious ramifications for forest regeneration in this region.

Key Words: Borneo • dipterocarp forests • Lambir • mass flowering • masting • Malaysia • phenology • Sarawak

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