Fig 1.
Monthly rainfall in Central Amazonia.
Monthly precipitation in Itacoatiara Brazil in mm together with the respective standard deviation.
Fig 2.
Wood cross sections of the studied species.
Wood anatomical features of (A) Cariniana micrantha (Lecythidaceae), (B) Caryocar villosum (Caryocaraceae) and (C) Manilkara huberi (Sapotaceae) from a Central Amazonian terra firme forest. The scale is 1 mm and, the triangles mark tree ring boundaries.
Table 1.
Radiocarbon dating.
Fig 3.
Age of all samples in classes.
Age of all samples from three species of the Amazon lowland rain forest in twelve age classes. The ages are normally distributed as shown by the Gaussian curve (red line).
Table 2.
Growth parameters of the studied species.
Fig 4.
Non-linear relationships between age and diameter (upper panels) and diameter at breast height and tree height (lower panels) for the tree species Cariniana micrantha (Lecythidaceae), Caryocar villosum (Caryocaraceae) and Manilkara huberi (Sapotaceae) from Central Amazonian lowland moist forests. Correlation functions and equations in the respective graph.
Fig 5.
Total growth releases and suppressions.
Percentage of trees from Cariniana micrantha (Lecythidaceae), Manilkara huberi (Sapotaceae) and Caryocar villosum (Caryocaraceae) from the Central Amazonian lowland rain forest showing either no events of suppression and release (direct growth), one suppression and release, or multiple releases and suppressions.
Fig 6.
Frequency of growth releases and suppressions.
Frequency of growth releases (top) and suppressions (below) in diameter classes of three tree species from the Amazonian lowland rainforest, derived from tree ring time series.
Fig 7.
Characteristic individual trend curves. A) Understory low growth rates during the initial growth periods in the given case of about 150 years, followed by a sharp release to a much higher level (e.g. Cariniana micrantha). B) Similar behavior as in A with a shorter understory period and a pronounced decrease after the release (e.g. Manilkara huberi). C) High growth rates in the sapling stage and continuous decline in the following stages (e.g. Caryocar villosum). D) Relatively stable growth levels throughout the entire lifespan (e.g. C. micrantha 4. E) Starting at a low level, followed by a constant increase without major abrupt growth changes (e.g. C. micrantha).
Fig 8.
Growth models in diameter (upper panels), tree height (middle panels) and volume (lower panels) for the tree species Cariniana micrantha (Lecythidaceae), Caryocar villosum (Caryocaraceae) and Manilkara huberi (Sapotaceae) from the Central Amazonian lowland rainforest. The black line indicates the cumulative growth in diameter, tree height and volume, the red line indicates the current increments in diameter, tree height and volume and the green lines indicate the mean increments in diameter, tree height and volume. The dotted lines indicate the standard errors.
Table 3.
Wood density and management criteria for timber species in the Amazon region.
Fig 9.
Diameter growth and wood density in African and Amazonian timber species.
Correlation between diameter growth (cm*yr-1) and wood density (g*cm-3) of selected timber species from Amazonia and West Africa (r = -0.81, significance level p = 0.0001, model: growth = 2.2455*exp(-2.5652*x)). Data from [22]: Terminalia ivorensis, (T.i.), Brachystegia eurycoma (B.e.), B. cynometra (B.c.), Daniellia ogea (D.o.); [71]: Triplochiton scleroxylon (T.s.), Sterculia rhinopetala (S.r.) Nesogordonia papaverifera (N.p.), Trilepsium madagascariense (T.m.);) [19]: Swietenia macrophylla (S.m.), Cedrela odorata (C.o.); [11]: Amburana cearensis (A.c.), Cedrela odorata (C.o.Bol), Cedrelinga catenaeformis (C.c.); This study:Cariniana micrantha (C.m.), Caryocar villosum (C.v.), Manilkara huberi (M.h.). Growth data consists of mean values from 18 individuals or more. Wood density data: own measurements and those of the Global Wood Density Database [75].