Faramea occidentalis: An Extremely Abundant Barro Colorado Island Understory Tree Species

This chapter is an overview of knowledge of the natural history and ecol?ogy of Faramea occidentalis (L.) A. Rich. Because of its extreme abundance, the ecology of Faramea is important to the ecology of Barro Colorado Island (BCI). I start with a simple description of the species and its distribution, both geographical and ecologi?cal. The review then follows the life cycle of Faramea, starting with flowering and seed production, through seed dispersal and postdispersal seed fate, to germination and seed?ling establishment. These sections largely depend on single-species studies of Faramea, many of which are mine. I next review what is known about seedling, sapling, and adult dynamics based on community-level analyses of data from the BCI 50-ha plot. Last, I present the major contributions of Faramea research to the early development of our understanding of seed dispersal and its consequences.