Seedling mortality from litterfall increases with decreasing latitude

Global patterns in ecology need to be identified and interpreted if macroecological processes are to be fully understood. Facilitating effects on seedlings such as that of nurse plants and competitive effects such as allelopathy have been well recognized but the importance of plants acting as killers through physical damage by the litterfall they produce has received relatively little attention. Here I examine latitudinal patterns of physical disturbance to seedlings (microdisturbance) due to litterfall and discuss the macroecological implications in light of current research. Analyses of results from published studies show that both the risk of litterfall disturbance, as measured using artificial model seedlings, and the proportion of seedling mortalities due to litterfall decrease significantly with increasing latitude. Patterns of microdisturbance appear to be driven by the dynamic interaction between macro-litterfall, safe sites with protective overhead vegetation, topography, and animal activity. However, we are informed on this subject by few studies. There is evidence, again from a limited number of studies, for considerable spatial heterogeneity in microdisturbance intensity and for seedling resilience to litterfall damage to differ substantially among species. Therefore, differential survival among microsites may produce regeneration niche diversity. However, more focused studies are required across a range of forest types and latitudes before these results can be generalized. Therefore, there is fertile ground for researchers to use comparable multifactorial methods to investigate the implications of microdisturbance at macro-ecological scales.