Breakage and Regrowth of Piper Species in Rain Forest Understory

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Abstract
Species of Piper in the lowland tropical forest of La Selva, Costa Rica, appear to have any many adaptations to avoid death resulting from branches being broken or pinned to the ground. Analysis of breakage scars along the branches shows that the majority of the individuals have at least one broken branch, and some have many more. Breakage is lower in open habitat than in the other habitats, and is similar within gap edge, secondary, and primary forest habitats. Almost all the individuals of the majority of the species showed growth after having their branches pinned to the ground with wire for 22-24 days. More than 40 percent of the plants had been propagated vegetatively; this is a conservative estimate because the remainder of the plants showed no clue to indicate origin, and also could have been propagated vegetatively.

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