The sensitivity of wood production to seasonal and interannual variations in climate in a lowland Amazonian rainforest

This new paper, led by Lucy Rowland for her PhD work, looks at seasonal patterns of tree growth using an amazing dataset (now 8 years long and still continuing) of seasonal tree growth in two of our forest plots in Tambopata, Peru. Javier-Silva Espejo played a key role in the early years of these measurements, followed by Filio Farfan-Amezquita. 
The paper finds trees grow more in the wet season (not that surprising perhaps) but also breaks the analysis down by tree functional group. Fast-growing, low wood density trees and tall trees show much more seasonality than short trees with high wood density, giving evidence for a trade-off between rapid growth and hydraulic vulnerability.

Rowland L., Y. Malhi, J. E. Silva-Espejo, F. Farfán-Amézquita, K. Halladay, C. E. Doughty, P. Meir, O. L. Phillips. (2013) The sensitivity of wood production to seasonal and interannual variations in climate in a lowland Amazonian rainforest. Oecologia, Advanced Publication Online