Vines thrive in lowland tropical forests, yet the biotic factors underlying their colonization of host tree seedlings and saplings remain surprisingly understudied. Insect herbivores presumably could influence this process, especially where disturbance has opened the canopy (i.e., gaps)—temporary areas of higher primary productivity favoring the recruitment of vines and trees and invertebrates in forests—but their impact on vine colonization has never been experimentally tested. Using data from an insect herbivore exclusion (mesh‐netting cages) experiment conducted in an African rain forest (Korup, Cameroon), I logistically modeled the probability of vines colonizing seedlings of three co‐dominant species (Microberlinia bisulcata vs. Tetraberlinia bifoliolata and T. korupensis) in paired shaded understory and sunny gap locations (41 blocks across 80 ha, starting n = 664 seedlings) in a 1–2‐yr period (2008–2009). Vine colonization occurred almost exclusively in gaps, occurring on 16% of seedlings there. Excluding herbivores in gaps doubled colonization of the light‐demanding and faster growing M. bisulcata but had negligible effects on the two shade‐tolerant, slower growing and less palatable Tetraberlinia species, which together were twice as susceptible to vines under natural forest gap conditions (controls). When protected from herbivores in gaps, more light to individual seedlings strongly increased vine colonization of M. bisulcata whereas its well‐lit control individuals supported significantly fewer vines. These results suggest vines preferably colonize taller seedlings, and because light‐demanding tree species grow faster in height with more light, they are more prone to being colonized in gaps; however, insect herbivores can mediate this process by stunting fast growing individuals so that colonization rates becomes more similar between co‐occurring slow and fast growing tree species. Further influencing this process might be associational resistance or susceptibility to herbivores linked to host species’ leaf traits conferring shade‐tolerant ability as seedlings or saplings. A richer understanding of how vines differentially influence forest regeneration and species composition may come from investigating vine–tree–herbivore interactions across light gradients, ideally via long‐term studies and intercontinental comparisons.

中文翻译：

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昆虫和光相互作用，介导非洲雨林间隙中快速生长的小柏林小枝树木幼苗的藤蔓定植

藤蔓在低地的热带森林中，壮成长，但令人惊讶的是，对藤蔓定居于寄主树苗和幼树的潜在生物因子进行了研究。昆虫食草动物可能会影响这一过程，特别是在扰动打开了树冠（即空隙）的地方（临时初级生产力较高的地区，有利于在森林中招募藤蔓和树木以及无脊椎动物），但从未对它们对藤蔓定植的影响进行过实验测试。利用在非洲雨林（喀麦隆，科鲁普）进行的食草动物排斥（网状网箱）实验的数据，我从逻辑上模拟了葡萄在三个共同优势树种（Microberlinia bisulcata和Tetraberlinia bifoliolata和 在1-2年（2008-2009年）内，在成对的树荫下和阳光充足的间隙位置（80公顷内有41个块，起始n = 664苗）成对的T. korupensis）。藤蔓定植几乎只发生在缝隙中，在那里的16％的幼苗中发生。除间隙中的草食动物外，对光的需求和生长较快的比目鱼M. bisulcata的定殖量增加了一倍，但对两种耐荫，生长较慢且口感较差的四叶草属物种的影响可忽略不计，它们在自然森林裂隙条件下对藤蔓的敏感性加倍（控件）。当免受缝隙中的草食动物的侵害时，对单个幼苗的更多光照会大大增加比苏尔卡塔尔葡萄的藤蔓定植而光线充足的控制个体所支撑的葡萄藤则少得多。这些结果表明，葡萄树最好定植在较高的幼苗上，并且由于对光有需求的树种的高度随着光的增加而生长得更快，因此它们更容易在空隙中定植。然而，昆虫食草动物可以通过阻碍快速生长的个体来介导这一过程，从而使同时发生的慢速和快速生长的树种之间的定殖率变得更加相似。进一步影响该过程的可能是对草食动物的抗性或易感性，而草食动物与寄主物种的叶片性状相关，从而赋予幼苗或树苗耐荫能力。对藤蔓如何差异影响森林再生和物种组成的更深入的了解可能来自研究跨光梯度的藤蔓-树-草食动物的相互作用，