Effects of lianas on forest biogeochemistry during their lives and afterlives.

Climate change and other anthropogenic disturbances are increasing liana abundance and biomass in many tropical and subtropical forests. While the effects of living lianas on species diversity, ecosystem carbon, and nutrient dynamics are receiving increasing attention, the role of dead lianas in forest ecosystems has been little studied and is poorly understood. Trees and lianas coexist as the major woody components of forests worldwide, but they have very different ecological strategies, with lianas relying on trees for mechanical support. Consequently, trees and lianas have evolved highly divergent stem, leaf, and root traits. Here we show that this trait divergence is likely to persist after death, into the afterlives of these organs, leading to divergent effects on forest biogeochemistry. We introduce a conceptual framework combining horizontal, vertical, and time dimensions for the effects of liana proliferation and liana tissue decomposition on ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycling. We propose a series of empirical studies comparing traits between lianas and trees to answer questions concerning the influence of trait afterlives on the decomposability of liana and tree organs. Such studies will increase our understanding of the contribution of lianas to terrestrial biogeochemical cycling, and help predict the effects of their increasing abundance.

Differential Dominance of Ecological Processes Shapes the Longhorn Beetle Community in Tropical Rainforests and Temperate Forests of Southwest China.

(1) Background: Understanding the relationship between community assembly and species coexistence is key to understanding ecosystem diversity. Despite the importance of wood-boring longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae) in forests, factors affecting their population dynamics, species richness, and ecological interactions remain underexplored. (2) Methods: We surveyed cerambycid beetles and plants within five plots each across three transects in tropical rainforests and temperate forests of Yunnan, China, known for its rich biodiversity and varied elevation gradients. We explored a range of analytical tools, including α-diversity comparisons, distance-decay relationships, redundancy analysis, ß-dissimilarity metrics, and various neutral community model analyses. (3) Results: The results revealed a stark contrast between the two forest types: the tropical rainforests hosted 212 Cerambycidae and 135 tree species, whereas the temperate forests had only 16 Cerambycidae and 18 tree species. This disparity was attributed to differences in environmental heterogeneity and dispersal limitations. In temperate forests, pronounced environmental variability leads to steeper distance-decay relationships and reduced α-diversity of Cerambycidae, implying stronger dispersal constraints and weaker plant-beetle associations. Conversely, the more homogenous tropical rainforests exhibited stochastic processes that enhanced Cerambycidae diversity and plant-beetle interactions. (4) Conclusions: Our findings underscore that environmental heterogeneity, dispersal limitations, and host-specificity are pivotal in shaping biodiversity patterns in Cerambycidae, with significant variations across climatic zones.