ASPECTS OF THE POPULATION BIOLOGY OF THE GREGARIOUS TREE CORDIA ELAEAGNOIDES IN MEXICAN TROPICAL DECIDUOUS FOREST

Cordia elaeagnoides is locally important within a large area of southe rn Mexico as a highly gregarious canopy tree of dry forest and as a ti mber species. Its recruitment is problematic so studies of its reprodu ction and population dynamics were undertaken. The distylous hewers ar e apparently self-compatible, and pollination and seed dispersal are b y wind. Pre-dispersal mortality is largely from embryo abortion, and p ost-dispersal predation is mostly by generalist rodents. Some seeds ma y survive in enforced dormancy for two or more years. Recruitment was apparently absent for more than a decade, but had previously occurred within established stands, where size classes were interspersed at ran dom. Population size structure suggests that recruitment over the last century occurred in several pulses. Growth rates determined from ring counts and remeasurement of marked trees support a size-age relations hip. The youngest reproductive trees are estimated to be about 18 year s old, and about 5% of the present population is over 95 years old.