DOI: 10.5061/dryad.bj28m
title: Data from: Early life conditions and precipitation influence the performance of widespread understory herbs in variable light environments

description: 1. The understory of tropical forests is heterogeneous across time, and
 plants that inhabit this layer may exhibit adaptations (e.g. trait
 plasticity) that enable them to exploit this variability to their
 advantage. We tested the hypothesis that two widespread understory herbs
 would perform equally well in a variable as in a constant environment,
 using a two-year shade-house experiment. 2. We measured demographic traits
 (growth and survival), a physiological trait (maximum photosynthetic
 capacity), and life history traits (leaf lifespan and biomass allocation)
 of Heliconia tortuosa and Calathea crotalifera. We investigated how these
 traits were affected by light availability at the seedling stage,
 precipitation, and whether individuals experienced a constant or variable
 light environment. 3. Whether or not a variable environment was favorable
 for plants depended upon precipitation and the environment in which
 individuals started life. At low precipitation, plants in a variable light
 environment grew more than those in a constant environment, but only when
 individuals had lived as seedlings in low light. At high precipitation,
 plants in a constant environment grew more than those in a variable
 environment, regardless of early conditions. Survival was lower in a
 variable environment at low precipitation, and more so at high
 precipitation. Photosynthetic capacity was lower for individuals in a
 variable environment than in a constant environment when they had lived in
 high light as seedlings. 4. Calathea grew faster and survived more poorly
 than Heliconia, independently of the treatments. Calathea grew more at
 high than low precipitation while Heliconia grew more at low than high
 precipitation. Leaf lifespan and biomass allocation did not differ among
 treatments, although Calathea had a significantly greater proportion of
 its biomass aboveground versus that of Heliconia. 5. Synthesis
 Environmental variability had a neutral or positive effect on biomass
 allocation, photosynthetic capacity, and leaf lifespan for these species.
 Survival was the only trait that was always lower in a variable
 environment. The effect of environmental variability was dependent on
 early life conditions as well as precipitation, suggesting that generalist
 species may experience high fitness as forest environments become more
 variable by maintaining high growth at the expense of survival.
description: Growth and survival
 dataContains total leaf area
 and survival (status) data for all individuals in the experiment. Leaf
 area was used to estimate growth rates. There is additional information on
 morphology, such as number of leaves, height, circumference. This
 information was not published in this paper.bigdat.csvBiomass dataProvides information on above and belowground biomass for a subset of the individuals in the experiment.Biomassdat.csvMaximum photosynthetic capacityContains measured rates of photosynthesis (leaf area based) for a subset of individuals in the experiment. The estimates of stomatal conductance are included but were not used because they were not taken at stomatal equilibrium.Shade_Amax_dframe.csv