DOI: 10.5061/dryad.stqjq2c1q
title: Survival and growth of Symphonia seedlings in a reciprocal transplantation experiment

description: Trees are characterised by the large number of seeds they produce.
 Although most of those seeds will never germinate, plenty will. Of those
 which germinate, many die young, and eventually only a minute fraction
 will grow to adult stage and reproduce. Is this just a random process? Do
 variations in germination and survival at very young stages rely on
 variations in adaptations to microgeographic heterogeneity? and do these
 processes matter at all in determining tree species distribution and
 abundance? We have studied these questions with the Neotropical Symphonia
 tree species. In the Guiana shield, Symphonia are represented by at least
 two sympatric taxa or ecotypes, Symphonia globulifera found almost
 exclusively in bottomlands, and a yet undescribed more generalist
 taxon/ecotype, Symphonia sp1.  A reciprocal transplantation
 experiment (510 seeds, 16 conditions) was set up and followed over the
 course of 6 years to evaluate the survival and performance of individuals
 from different ecotypes and provenances. Germination, survival, growth,
 and herbivory showed signs of local adaptation, with some combinations of
 ecotypes and provenances growing faster and surviving better in their own
 habitat or provenance region. S. globulifera was strongly penalised when
 planted outside its home habitat but showed the fastest growth rates when
 planted in its home habitat, suggesting it’s a specialist of a high-risk
 high-gain strategy. Conversely, S. sp1 behaved as a generalist, performing
 well in a variety of environments.  The differential performance
 of seeds and seedlings in the different habitats matches the known
 distribution of both ecotypes, indicating that environmental filtering at
 the very early stages can be a key determinant of tree species
 distributions, even at the microgeographic level and among very closely
 related taxa. Furthermore, such differential performance also contributes
 to explain, in part, the maintenance of the different Symphonia ecotypes
 living in intimate sympatry despite occasional gene flow.
description: The experimental design aimed to collect seeds from mother trees
 from two contrasting habitats and the associated ecotypes: SF-<em>S.
 globulifera</em> and HT-<em>S. sp1; </em> and from two
 broad regions with markedly different rainfall patterns: 'east',
 with the highest rainfall in French Guiana, and 'west', the
 driest part of French Guiana (Fig. 2). Seeds were transplanted onto
 experimental gardens installed on HT and SF habitats at two field sites in
 the 'east' and 'west' regions, respectively, which
 were not among the sampled sites for the seeds. Seeds
 were collected between September 2008 and April 2009, due to large
 differences in flowering times, from nine mother trees belonging to both
 ecotypes in the 'western' region and from five mother trees in
 the 'eastern' region, composing the variables “Provenance
 region” and “Ecotype” (Table 1). From each mother tree, 35-39 seeds were
 collected and sown in polypropylene germination plates with soil in a
 common shadehouse at the Kourou Agronomic Campus prior to transplantation
 into field sites between May and July 2009. This meant that seeds spent
 between 27 and 315 days in the shadehouse, depending on the seed
 collection and transplant dates. Whether seeds had
 germinated at the moment of transplant or not was stored in the variable
 “transplant status”. To avoid confusion, we hereafter
 refer to “seed” when discussing aspects regarding the phase prior to
 germination, “seedling” for those aspects regarding the phase after
 germination, and “individual” for those aspects regarding both seed and
 seedling phases. Individuals (<em>i.e.</em>
 seed or seedling) were transplanted to gardens established at each field
 site (<em>i.e.</em> east <em>vs.</em> west) and
 habitat: three in SF and three in HT conditions in each site, totalling 12
 gardens (see Brousseau et al. 2020, under revision at M<em>olecular
 ecology</em>, for the description of sites).
 Notice that, because <em>S. globulifera</em> and
 <em>S. sp1</em> are late-succession, shade-tolerant trees, the
 gardens were established under canopy cover. Field site plantation and
 habitat compose the variables “Plantation region” and “Habitat”,
 respectively (Table 2; Fig. 2). Each garden was fenced from large
 herbivores with chicken wire. Prior to transplanting, all understory
 vegetation (i.e. up to 5 cm D.B.H.) was removed; the canopy was left
 undisturbed. Regeneration other than the transplanted seedlings was
 removed yearly by hand. Individuals were distributed over the twelve
 gardens as follows: each garden was arranged in 44 ten-seedling slots. In
 each garden, six slots were randomly attributed to
 <em>Symphonia</em> (the remaining slots were used for other
 experiments), and then three individuals per mother plant were assigned to
 random positions within those slots in each garden. Individuals were
 allocated to different gardens depending on their provenance, ecotype,
 plantation region, and habitat without differentiating between those that
 had germinated in the shadehouse and transplanted as germinated seedlings
 or those transplanted as ungerminated seed (Table 2). Data for each
 individual (<em>i.e.</em> germination status at
 transplantation, germination year, survival, growth-associated traits, and
 herbivory) were collected at transplant date and then yearly in September
 from 2009 until 2014, except for 2012 (Suppl. Table 1). Individual
 survival was recorded as follows: 1 for seedlings found alive and 0 for
 ungerminated seeds transplanted to field sites and yet to germinate, and
 for seedlings previously living but found dead. Seedling height was
 measured in centimetres between the apical bud and the collar. Stem
 diameter was measured in millimetres at the collar in two orthogonal
 directions and estimated as the mean of the two measures. As an
 architectural trait, we selected “total number of leaves”, an indicator of
 seedling leafiness. Herbivory was determined as follows: each leaf was
 assigned one of five classes of percentage of damaged area (0-20%; 20-40%;
 40-60%; 60-80%; 80-100%) and then seedling herbivory attack level was
 estimated as the average of the percentage of damaged area of all its
 leaves
description: This contains raw data on the survival and growth of a reciprocal
 transplantation experiment of Symphonia in French Guiana. 
 Two different ecotypes/species, S. globulifera and S. sp1, exists
 in sympatry. The former is a seasonally floded specialists, whereas the
 latter prefers hilltops and slopes. Seeds from both ecotypes and from two
 regions (east and west) were collected from mother trees and grown in a
 reciprocal transplantation experiment. <br>The experiment was
 established in 2009, and measurement were taken annualy except for
 2012. <br>Year 0 = 2009<br>Year 1 = 2010<br>Year 2 =
 2011<br>Year 4 = 2013<br>Year 5 = 2014
 <br>The traits measured were height (cm), diameter (mm),
 and total number of leaves, as well as the relative growth rates
 (difference between years)  in these three variables. 
 We also calculated predation as an average percentage of damaged
 in all leaves. Germination and survival were recorded as 0 (ungerminated
 or dead) and 1 (alive). Trait data for individuals that were ungerminated
 or dead are recorded as NA.  Contact scientist: Niklas
 Tysklind (niklas.tysklind@ecofog.gf), Ivan Scotti (ivan.scotti@inrae.fr),
 Caroline Scotti-Saintagne
 (caroline.scotti-saintagne@inrate.fr).  Fields
 description available in ReadMe_Symphonia_RTE.txt 
description: # Survival and growth of Symphonia seedlings in a reciprocal
 transplantation experiment
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.stqjq2c1q](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.stqjq2c1q) ## Description of the data and file structure ReadMe file for the Symphonia RTE dataset This contains raw data on the survival and growth of a reciprocal transplantation experiment of Symphonia in French Guiana. Two different ecotypes/species, S. globulifera and S. sp1, exists in sympatry. The former is a seasonally floded specialists, whereas the latter prefers hilltops and slopes. Seeds from both ecotypes and from two regions (east and west) were collected from mother trees and grown in a reciprocal transplantation experiment. The experiment was established in 2009, and measurement were taken annualy except for 2012. Year 0 = 2009 Year 1 = 2010 Year 2 = 2011 Year 4 = 2013 Year 5 = 2014 The traits measured were height (cm), diameter (mm), and total number of leaves, as well as the relative growth rates (difference between years) in these three variables. We also calculated predation as an average percentage of damaged in all leaves. Germination and survival were recorded as 0 (ungerminated or dead) and 1 (alive). Trait data for individuals that were ungerminated or dead are recorded as NA. Contact scientist: Niklas Tysklind ([niklas.tysklind@ecofog.gf](mailto:niklas.tysklind@ecofog.gf)), Ivan Scotti ([ivan.scotti@inrae.fr](mailto:ivan.scotti@inrae.fr)), Caroline Scotti-Saintagne ([caroline.scotti-saintagne@inrate.fr](mailto:caroline.scotti-saintagne@inrate.fr)).  Fields description N° Individual number ID Individual ID number Family Mother tree Garden Garden code bloc Bloc code Garben_bloc Garden and bloc code Species Species: Symphonia globulifera (glo) and Symphonia sp1 (sp1) Habitat Habitat where individual were grown: SF (seasonally flooded); HT (hill tops) PROV_Region Provenance Region: East (E) or West (W) of French Guiana PLANT_Region Planting Region: East (E) or West (W) of French Guiana seed_info Individual status at transplant: as ungerminated seed or seedling H_0 Height at year 0 (cm) H_1 Height at year 1 (cm) H_2 Height at year 2 (cm) H_4 Height at year 4 (cm) H_5 Height at year 5 (cm) RGR_H_0 Relative growth rate in Height at year 0 (cm) RGR_H_1 Relative growth rate in Height at year 1 (cm) RGR_H_2 Relative growth rate in Height at year 2 (cm) RGR_H_4 Relative growth rate in Height at year 4 (cm) RGR_H_5 Relative growth rate in Height at year 5 (cm) DI_0 Diameter at year 0 (mm) DI_1 Diameter at year 1 (mm) DI_2 Diameter at year 2 (mm) DI_4 Diameter at year 4 (mm) DI_5 Diameter at year 5 (mm) RGR_DI_0 Relative growth rate in Diameter at year 0 (mm) RGR_DI_1 Relative growth rate in Diameter at year 1 (mm) RGR_DI_2 Relative growth rate in Diameter at year 2 (mm) RGR_DI_4 Relative growth rate in Diameter at year 4 (mm) RGR_DI_5 Relative growth rate in Diameter at year 5 (mm) TNL_0 Total number of leaves at year 0 TNL_1 Total number of leaves at year 1 TNL_2 Total number of leaves at year 2 TNL_4 Total number of leaves at year 4 TNL_5 Total number of leaves at year 5 RGR_TNL_0 Relative growth rate in total number of leaves at year 0 RGR_TNL_1 Relative growth rate in total number of leaves at year 1 RGR_TNL_2 Relative growth rate in total number of leaves at year 2 RGR_TNL_4 Relative growth rate in total number of leaves at year 4 RGR_TNL_5 Relative growth rate in total number of leaves at year 5 Herb_0_recod Herbivory (average % of leaf damage of all leaves) at year 0 Herb_1_recod Herbivory (average % of leaf damage of all leaves) at year 1 Herb_2_recod Herbivory (average % of leaf damage of all leaves) at year 2 Herb_4_recod Herbivory (average % of leaf damage of all leaves) at year 4 Herb_5_recod Herbivory (average % of leaf damage of all leaves) at year 5 Nbf_attack_1 Number of attacked leaves at year 0 Nbf_attack_1 Number of attacked leaves at year 1 Nbf_attack_2 Number of attacked leaves at year 2 Nbf_attack_4 Number of attacked leaves at year 4 Nbf_attack_5 Number of attacked leaves at year 5 RAM_0 Number of ramifications at year 0 RAM_1 Number of ramifications at year 1 RAM_2 Number of ramifications at year 2 RAM_4 Number of ramifications at year 4 RAM_5 Number of ramifications at year 5 Survival_0 Survival (1= alive; 0 = ungerminated or dead) at year 0 Survival_1 Survival (1= alive; 0 = ungerminated or dead) at year 1 Survival_2 Survival (1= alive; 0 = ungerminated or dead) at year 2 Survival_4 Survival (1= alive; 0 = ungerminated or dead) at year 4 Survival_5 Survival (1= alive; 0 = ungerminated or dead) at year 5