This package contains the information about total non-structural carbohydrates (NSC), starch and soluble sugar concentrations for stem xylem of trees and lianas sampled in two contrasting sites in the Amazon Basin. NSC data are presented for trees infested by lianas and the lianas infesting those trees and for trees free from lianas. Samples for the moist site were collected in Tambopata National Reserve, in Madre de Dios, southern Peru. The dry site is in the Vera Cruz farm, Nova Xavantina, Brazil. Sampling collection took place during the wet season in both sites.
Note that stem xylem NSC concentration for the trees sampled in moist site are also available at Signori-Müller et al. (2022) (https://doi.org/10.5521/forestplots.net/2021_7). Data for Eschweilera coriacea in Signori-Müller et al. (2022) is not the same presented here.
Attention, in the data set from Signori-Müller et al. (2022) Hymenopus heteromorphus is referred as Licania heteromorpha and Protium altissimum is referred as Tetragastris altissima.
Abstract (English)
Lianas (woody vines) are important components of tropical forests and are known to compete with host trees for resources, decrease tree growth and increase tree mortality. Given the observed increases in liana abundance in some forests and their impacts on forest function, an integrated understanding of carbon dynamics of lianas and liana-infested host trees is critical for improved prediction of tropical forest responses to climate change. Non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) are the main substrate for plant metabolism (e.g., growth, respiration), and have been implicated in enabling tree survival under environmental stress, but little is known of how they vary among life-forms or of how liana infestation impacts host tree NSC. We quantified stem total NSC (NSC) concentrations and its fractions (starch and soluble sugars) in trees without liana infestation, trees with more than 50% of the canopy covered by lianas, and the lianas infesting those trees. We hypothesized that i) liana infestation depletes NSC storage in host trees by reducing carbon assimilation due to competition for resources; ii) trees and lianas, which greatly differ in functional traits related to water transport and carbon uptake, would also have large differences in NSC storage, and that As water availability has a significant role in NSC dynamics of Amazonian tree species, we tested these hypotheses within a moist site in western Amazonia and a drier fore...