Offspring recruitment around tropical trees: changes in cohort distance with time.

For isolated parents of Platypodium elegans (Leguminosae), high seedling mortality nearer the parent tree due to fungal pathogens caused the median distance of surviving 3-month old seedlings to be greater than that of germinated seeds. After 1 yr the median distance of surviving offspring either increased further or decreased, depending on the location of light-gaps, in which survival and growth were greatly enhanced. Saplings were further from the parent than either dispersed seeds or 1-yr old seedlings. Thus recruitment distances of a given cohort were not constant through time. Mortality distributed uniformly in space or between individuals does not cause a shift in the location of recruitment. Any observed shift is an indication of density- or distance-dependent mortality. -from Author