DOI: 10.5061/dryad.bs332
title: Data from: Tropical trees in a wind-exposed island ecosystem: height-diameter allometry and size at onset of maturity

description: 1. Tropical tree species adapted to high wind environments might be
 expected to differ systematically in terms of stem allometry and
 life-history patterns, as compared with species found in less windy
 forests. We quantified height-diameter (H-D) allometries and relative size
 at onset of maturity (RSOM) for rainforest tree and tree fern species
 native to Dominica, West Indies, an island that experiences some of the
 highest average wind speeds pantropically. 2. H-D allometries for 17
 Dominican angiosperm tree species were strongly concave on a log-log scale
 with asymptotic heights ranging from 9-32 m among species, averaging 25 m
 for canopy trees. H-D allometries for species-pooled data deviated
 strongly from recorded patterns for other tropical forest trees:
 asymptotic heights for trees in Dominica were 30-116% lower than those
 recorded for continental rainforest trees in Australia, South America,
 Africa, and Southeast Asia. In a subset of canopy trees sampled in steep,
 sheltered valleys, heights were 12-26% larger at a given diameter, and
 approached those observed in other tropical regions, suggesting large
 phenotypic responses of H-D allometries to wind conditions. 3. RSOM
 (quantified as the ratio of height at onset of reproduction to asymptotic
 maximum height) for Dominican angiosperm species was highly variable,
 ranging from 0.23-0.89 (mean 0.54), similar to patterns observed in
 Malaysia and Panama; very low RSOM values were estimated for two tree fern
 species. Pooling data from Dominica with published values from other
 tropical forests, we observed a significant negative correlation between
 RSOM and wood density. 4. Synthesis: Our data suggest that wind regimes
 are a critical determinant of height-diameter (H-D) allometries of
 tropical trees at both the local and global scale. Although we found no
 evidence for a systematic differences in reproductive onset related to
 wind regime, RSOM was negatively correlated with species’ wood density,
 suggesting that more shade-tolerant tree species show a longer period of
 gradually increasing reproductive allocation through ontogeny.
description: Thomas_etal_2014_DryadData were collected from 2008-2010 at various sites on Dominica, Lesser Antilles. Abbreviated headlines are as follows: "year" = year of data collection; "species" = species code; "dbh" = diameter at 1.3 m in cm; "ht" = tree height in m; "rep" = reproductive status with 0 indicating no reproductive structures, and 1 indicating presence of reproductive structures; "CrClass" = crown exposure class on 1-5 scale; "lean" = stem lean in degrees from vertical; "lianascor" = liana load on 5 point scale; "dam" = presence/absence of crown damage (scored as 0/1); "dmgamt" = percent of crown damaged; "incallom" = excluded/included in allometric analyses (scored as 0/1).Thomas_etal_2014_Dryad2Data on tree allometry in exposed vs. shelter sites collected in the field at various sites in Dominica, Lesser Antilles in 2008-2010. Abbreviated headlines are as follows: "expos" = classification of site exposure: "exp" = exposed, "sh" = sheltered; "sp" = species code; "diam_cm" = stem diameter in cm at 1.3 m height, "incallom" = excluded/included in allometric analyses based on assessment of crown and stem damage, scored as (0/1).