Reproductive Behaviour and Its Individual Variability in a Tropical Palm, Astrocaryum Mexicanum

Abstract

The reproductive characteristics of a tropical understorey palm, A. mexicanum, and the causes of individual variability were observed for 414 adults on 6 plots during 5 yr. The probability of reproduction is the most plastic of the reproductive characteristics analyzed, since it varied between plots, age and years. Individuals appear to respond to an environment that is heterogeneous in time and space since reproductive events were not randomly distributed among them. This probably accounts for the unsynchronized supra-annual seeding behavior. The reproductive output was correlated with both the spatial location and the leaf area of individual palms which suggests that light may play an important role in controlling seed output. Light gaps and seed predation appear to be the most important selective pressures acting on this species.