Life-history theory posits that trade-offs between demographic rates constrain the range of viable life-history strategies. For coexisting tropical tree species, the best established demographic trade-off is the growth-survival trade-off. However, we know surprisingly little about co-variation of growth and survival with measures of reproduction. We analysed demographic rates from seed to adult of 282 co-occurring tropical tree and shrub species, including measures of reproduction and accounting for ontogeny. Besides the well-established fast-slow continuum, we identified a second major dimension of demographic variation: a trade-off between recruitment and seedling performance vs. growth and survival of larger individuals (≥ 1 cm dbh) corresponding to a 'stature-recruitment' axis. The two demographic dimensions were almost perfectly aligned with two independent trait dimensions (shade tolerance and size). Our results complement recent analyses of plant life-history variation at the global scale and reveal that demographic trade-offs along multiple axes act to structure local communities.
Keywords: Barro Colorado Island; demography; functional traits; growth-survival trade-off; life-history strategies; long-lived pioneer; mortality; seed production; tropical forest; weighted Principal Component Analysis.
© 2018 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by CNRS and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.