Journal ArticleDOI
Mesoscale distribution patterns of Amazonian understorey herbs in relation to topography, soil and watersheds
TLDR
The results indicate high turnover in species composition, on spatial scales of 5‐10 km in central Amazonia, which is not necessarily associated with soil change, and knowledge of geographical, historical or other landscape features, such as watershed morphology, may therefore be necessary to predict the turnover patterns over mesoscales.Abstract:
Summary 1 Many authors have suggested that topography and soils are the major determinants of species distributions and community patterns at small or regional scales, but few studies addressed the patterns at mesoscales. We used Reserva Ducke (100 km 2 ) as a model to analyse the effects of soil, topography and watersheds on the variation of the herb community composition, and to determine the relative importance of the environmental factors on species composition. 2 Taxonomic groups are frequently used as surrogates in studies of biodiversity distribution and complementarity, but their efficacy is controversial. We therefore studied the correlations between the distributional patterns of three different herb groups (Marantaceae, pteridophytes and ‘others’) and their responses to environmental predictors. 3 Terrestrial herbs were sampled in 59 plots of 250 × 2 m, systematically distributed over the reserve. Plots followed isoclines of altitude, to minimize the internal variation of soil. Composition of the total herb community and of the three herb groups was summarized with PCoA. 4 Soil structure, represented by PCA axes, was the main determinant of the variation in herb composition for all groups, but slope affected only pteridophytes. Soil and topography explained less than one-third of the variance in community data. Herb composition was significantly different between watersheds, but watersheds differ only slightly in soil parameters. Our results indicate high turnover in species composition, on spatial scales of 5‐10 km in central Amazonia, which is not necessarily associated with soil change. 5 Compositional patterns of the three groups analysed were significantly correlated, but with low values for the correlation coefficient. Although composition was correlated, the responses to environmental predictors differed among groups, and the use of one group as a surrogate will miss around 50% of the variation in other groups. 6 Although important, soil and topography alone cannot predict herb community structure. Knowledge of geographical, historical or other landscape features, such as watershed morphology, may therefore be necessary to predict the turnover patterns over mesoscales. Moreover, the same factors may not have the same effectiveness as predictors of the structure of seemingly similar biological groups.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Variation in aboveground tree live biomass in a central Amazonian Forest: Effects of soil and topography
Carolina Volkmer de Castilho,William E. Magnusson,R. Nazaré O. de Araújo,Regina C. C. Luizão,Flávio J. Luizão,Albertina P. Lima,Niro Higuchi +6 more
TL;DR: This study shows that forests in central Amazonia grow in a heterogeneous environment in relation to soil and topography, and this heterogeneity seems to be in part responsible for differences in structure and AGLB accumulation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Gradients within gradients: The mesoscale distribution patterns of palms in a central Amazonian forest
TL;DR: In this article, the relative contributions of environmental factors and geographic distance to palm community structure at the mesoscale, and how do they depend on the length of the environmental gradient covered, were investigated.
Journal ArticleDOI
Vertical distance from drainage drives floristic composition changes in an Amazonian rainforest
Juliana Schietti,Thaise Emilio,Camilo Daleles Rennó,D. P. Drucker,Flávia R. C. Costa,Anselmo Nogueira,Fabricio Beggiato Baccaro,Fernando O. G. Figueiredo,Carolina V. Castilho,Valdely Ferreira Kinupp,Jean-Louis Guillaumet,Ana Raquel M. Garcia,Albertina P. Lima,William E. Magnusson +13 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a new proxy for water table depth, the terrain height above nearest drainage (HAND), was tested as a predictor of composition in trees, lianas, palms, shrubs, and herbs.
Journal ArticleDOI
Soil Effects on Forest Structure and Diversity in a Moist and a Dry Tropical Forest
Marielos Peña-Claros,Lourens Poorter,Alfredo Alarcón,Geoffrey M. Blate,Urbano Choque,Todd S. Fredericksen,Marco J. Justiniano,Claudio Leaño,Juan Carlos Licona,William Pariona,Francis E. Putz,Lincoln Quevedo,Marisol Toledo +12 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used tree and soil data from 48 and 32 1ha plots, respectively, in a Bolivian moist and dry forest, to evaluate the relationship between soil characteristics and forest structure and diversity in each of the two forest types.
Journal ArticleDOI
Conceptual and empirical advances in Neotropical biodiversity research.
Alexandre Antonelli,María Ariza,María Ariza,James S. Albert,Tobias Andermann,Josué A. R. Azevedo,Christine D. Bacon,Søren Faurby,Thaís B. Guedes,Carina Hoorn,Lúcia G. Lohmann,Pável Matos-Maraví,Camila Duarte Ritter,Isabel Sanmartín,Daniele Silvestro,Marcelo F. Tejedor,Hans ter Steege,Hans ter Steege,Hanna Tuomisto,Fernanda P. Werneck,Alexander Zizka,Scott V. Edwards,Scott V. Edwards +22 more
TL;DR: This review highlights the great opportunities for studying the Neotropical biota to understand the evolution of life and urges more coordination and integration of data and ideas among disciplines, transcending their traditional boundaries, as a basis for advancing tomorrow’s ground-breaking research.
References
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Book
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