Instant trees: Using giant vegetative stakes in tropical forest restoration

Remnant trees have been widely reported to facilitate tropical forest recovery, however, few restoration strategies can mimic the role such trees play in their absence. This study evaluated the establishment success and growth of planting oversized vegetative ‘stakes’ (>4 m tall) of three species: Ficus pertusa (Moraceae), Bursera simaruba (Burseraceae), and Erythrina poeppigiana (Fabaceae) at three different sites in southern Costa Rica. I found high establishment rates for all species (range 67–100%) with no mortality for Erythrina. This result was coupled with a rapid development of canopy area over 1 yr for Erythrina (7.69 ± 0.86 m²) and Bursera (1.82 ± 0.86 m²), but not Ficus (0.23 ± 0.04 m²). Similar results are reported for height. The study presents an important new addition to the growing body of literature on the use of stakes in tropical restoration, where, oversized stakes may be planted as solitary individuals in restoration sites to mimic the role played by remnant trees in forest recovery.