Diversity and distribution of lianas in Yasuní, Ecuador

Burnham, Robyn J.; Romero‐Saltos, Hugo

doi:10.1002/9781118392409.ch5

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…are shade-tolerant. Overall relative richness of lianas (19.4%) was similar to that reported in other Neotropical forests ∼20% [73]. Absolute and relative liana species richness increased slightly from early to more advanced successional age classes, as also reported for the Mata Seca in Brazil [74].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

β-Diversity of Functional Groups of Woody Plants in a Tropical Dry Forest in Yucatan

et al. 2013

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Two main theories have attempted to explain variation in plant species composition (β-diversity). Niche theory proposes that most of the variation is related to environment (environmental filtering), whereas neutral theory posits that dispersal limitation is the main driver of β-diversity. In this study, we first explored how α- and β-diversity of plant functional groups defined by growth form (trees, shrubs and lianas, which represent different strategies of resource partitioning), and dispersal syndrome (autochory, anemochory and zoochory, which represent differences in dispersal limitation) vary with successional age and topographic position in a tropical dry forest. Second, we examined the effects of environmental, spatial, and spatially-structured environmental factors on β-diversity of functional groups; we used the spatial structure of sampling sites as a proxy for dispersal limitation, and elevation, soil properties and forest stand age as indicators of environmental filtering. We recorded 200 species and 22,245 individuals in 276 plots; 120 species were trees, 41 shrubs and 39 lianas. We found that β-diversity was highest for shrubs, intermediate for lianas and lowest for trees, and was slightly higher for zoochorous than for autochorous and anemochorous species. All three dispersal syndromes, trees and shrubs varied in composition among vegetation classes (successional age and topographic position), whilst lianas did not. β-diversity was influenced mostly by proxies of environmental filtering, except for shrubs, for which the influence of dispersal limitation was more important. Stand age and topography significantly influenced α-diversity across functional groups, but showed a low influence on β-diversity –possibly due to the counterbalancing effect of resprouting on plant distribution and composition. Our results show that considering different plant functional groups reveals important differences in both α- and β-diversity patterns and correlates that are not apparent when focusing on overall woody plant diversity, and that have important implications for ecological theory and biodiversity conservation.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

β-Diversity of Functional Groups of Woody Plants in a Tropical Dry Forest in Yucatan

et al. 2013

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“…Nestedness was also observed when the matrix was arranged in relation to by distance from to the largest fragment, although the effect was smaller than that produced by area. These findings (i.e., the area and isolation effect) indicate that there is a greater turnover of climbing plants than epiphytic species in the landscape (beta diversity), a pattern that has been described in previous studies for the first of these functional groups (e.g., Burnham, ). Here, the local colonization of climbing plants was found to be mediated principally by the distance among fragments.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Consequences of swamp forest fragmentation on assemblages of vascular epiphytes and climbing plants: Evaluation of the metacommunity structure

Pincheira‐Ulbrich

Hernández

Saldaña

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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AimHabitat reduction in fragmented landscapes provides an opportunity to study the biogeographic patterns that drive changes in diversity in poorly studied metacommunities. In this study, colonization–extinction dynamics were indirectly evaluated through the analysis of the species–area relationship and the nestedness of vascular epiphytes and climbing plants in 30 swamp forest fragments.LocationCoast of the Araucanía Region in Chile.TaxonVascular epiphytes (16 species, mainly Pteridophytes) and climbing plants (15 species).MethodsWe used the database in Pincheira‐Ulbrich et al. (New Zealand Journal of Botany, 54, 2016, 458), where 904 trees were sampled and a total abundance of 41,097 fern fronds and 3,098 climbing stems were reported. For the species–area relationship, a simple linear regression model (SLR) and two models that consider the spatial autocorrelation of species richness among fragments, generalized least squares (GLS) and simultaneous autoregressive model (SAR), were compared. For the species nestedness, the nestedness measure based on overlap and decreasing fills (NODF) and weighted nestedness metric based on overlap and decreasing fill (WNODF) indexes were used on presence–absence and abundance matrices, respectively. These matrices were sorted by area size and distance from the largest fragment and then contrasted with the probability distribution of a randomized null model based on 10,000 simulations.ResultsThe results showed that the area size had a significantly positive effect on epiphyte species richness, while spatial autocorrelation played a fundamental role in explaining the richness of climbing plants. Both metacommunities had a general nestedness structure in terms of species incidence, which was determined first by area size and secondly by isolation.Main conclusionsOur results indicate that local colonization processes determined by species’ dispersal capacities could be the predominant mechanism for the spatial configuration of climbing plant species composition. On the other hand, selective extinction determined by patch size could characterize the spatial structure of epiphyte species’ composition.

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“…Furthermore, this rule seems likely to apply across approximately 200 000 ha of swamp forest in Yasuní National Park. This represents additional evidence for the proposition that strong oligarchic components are a common feature of Amazonian tree communities (Pitman et al ; see also Burnham , , Pitman et al , , Vormisto et al , Macía and Svenning , Macía , , Fine et al ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Distribution and abundance of tree species in swamp forests of Amazonian Ecuador

et al. 2014

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Research to date on Amazonian swamps has reinforced the impression that tree communities there are dominated by a small, morphologically specialized subset of the regional flora capable of surviving physiologically challenging conditions. In this paper, using data from a large‐scale tree inventory in upland, floodplain, and mixed palm swamp forests in Amazonian Ecuador, we report that tree communities growing on well‐drained and saturated soils are more similar than previously appreciated. While our data support the traditional view of Amazonian swamp forests as low‐diversity tree communities dominated by palms, they also reveal four patterns that have not been well documented in the literature to date: 1) tree communities in these swamp forests are dominated by a phylogenetically diverse oligarchy of 30 frequent and common species; 2) swamp specialists account for < 10% of species and a minority of stems; 3) most tree species recorded in swamps (> 80%) also occur in adjacent well‐drained forest types; and 4) many tree species present in swamps are common in well‐drained forests (e.g. upland oligarchs account for 34.1% of all swamp stems). These observations imply that, as in the temperate zone, the composition and structure of Amazonian swamp vegetation are determined by a combination of local‐scale environmental filters (e.g. plant survival in permanently saturated soils) and landscape‐scale patterns and processes (e.g. the composition and structure of tree communities in adjacent non‐swamp habitats, the dispersal of propagules from those habitats to swamps). We conclude with suggestions for further research to quantify the relative contributions of these factors in structuring tree communities in Amazonian swamps.

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Diversity and distribution of lianas in Yasuní, Ecuador

Cited by 12 publications

References 45 publications

β-Diversity of Functional Groups of Woody Plants in a Tropical Dry Forest in Yucatan

β-Diversity of Functional Groups of Woody Plants in a Tropical Dry Forest in Yucatan

Consequences of swamp forest fragmentation on assemblages of vascular epiphytes and climbing plants: Evaluation of the metacommunity structure

Distribution and abundance of tree species in swamp forests of Amazonian Ecuador

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