Chronic anthropogenic disturbance and climate synergistically shape demographic trade-offs in a tropical fuelwood tree

Abstract

Understanding intraspecific demographic trade-offs is fundamental for capturing plant responses to global changes such as disturbance and climate variability. The coordinated resource allocation hypothesis suggests that plants invest in demographic processes (such as survival, growth, or fecundity) relative to resource availability and environmental challenges. Most studies have primarily focused on the effects of disturbance or climate regions on species demographic processes separately, with limited attention given to the associated trade-offs. However, it is crucial to understand the synergistic effects of climate variation and disturbance on these processes to accurately forecast forest species dynamics. Three series of data were collected from 12 populations of African mesquite trees, Prosopis africana, distributed across three contrasting ecological regions in Benin, West Africa. Within a permanent plot, individuals of P. africana were tagged with numbered aluminum tags, and data were collected on the demography parameters of each individual. We found demographic trade-offs between survival and growth, growth and fecundity but not between survival and fecundity. The patterns of trade-offs mainly varied across synergistic effects of climate zone and disturbance. These findings highlight the strategies plants may employed under disturbance and climate variations in tropical forests and emphasize their significance in ecology and forest management.