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Drivers of tropical rainforest composition and alpha diversity patterns over a 2,520 m altitudinal gradient

AIM: We sought to determine the relationship of forest composition and alpha diversity (the species diversity of a local assemblage) to altitude, soil, and spatial factors over a 440–2,950 m a.s.l gradient. LOCATION: Altitudinal gradient on the Caribbean slope of the Talamanca Cordillera, Costa Rica...

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Autores principales: Veintimilla, Dario, Ngo Bieng, Marie Ange, Delgado, Diego, Vilchez‐Mendoza, Sergio, Zamora, Nelson, Finegan, Bryan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6540655/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31160993
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5155
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author Veintimilla, Dario
Ngo Bieng, Marie Ange
Delgado, Diego
Vilchez‐Mendoza, Sergio
Zamora, Nelson
Finegan, Bryan
author_facet Veintimilla, Dario
Ngo Bieng, Marie Ange
Delgado, Diego
Vilchez‐Mendoza, Sergio
Zamora, Nelson
Finegan, Bryan
author_sort Veintimilla, Dario
collection PubMed
description AIM: We sought to determine the relationship of forest composition and alpha diversity (the species diversity of a local assemblage) to altitude, soil, and spatial factors over a 440–2,950 m a.s.l gradient. LOCATION: Altitudinal gradient on the Caribbean slope of the Talamanca Cordillera, Costa Rica. TAXON: Angiosperm and gymnosperm trees, palms, and tree ferns. METHODS: We measured and identified all stems ≥10 cm dbh in 32 0.25‐ha undisturbed rain forest plots over the gradient. We determined compositional patterns using Non‐Metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMS) ordination, and used linear regressions to explore the relationship between four alpha diversity metrics and altitude. With variation partitioning (VARPART), we determined the compositional variation explained by altitude, soil, and spatial variables quantified using Principle Components of Neighbor matrices. RESULTS: We identified 425 species. NMS axis 1 separated a lowland zone (440–1,120 m asl) from a transitional one dominated by holarctic Oreomunnea mexicana (1,400–1,600 m asl) and Quercus‐dominated forests at altitudes >2,100 m asl. The lowland zone was separated into two clusters of plots on NMS axis 2, the first in the 430–620 m asl range and the second at 1,000–1,120 masl. Regressions showed that all alpha diversity metrics were strongly negatively related to altitude (R (2) > 0.78). Overall, adjusted R (2) from VARPART was 0.43, with 0.30, 0.21, and 0.17 for altitude, soil, and space respectively. The respective adjusted R (2) of individual matrices, on controlling for the other two, was 0.06, 0.05 and 0.09 (p < 0.001). MAIN CONCLUSIONS: There are two well‐defined forest compositional zones on this gradient—lowlands 430–1,120 m asl and montane forests >2,150 m asl—with a transitional zone at 1,400–1,600 m asl, where lowland tropical and montane holarctic species are found together. Montane forests are very distinct in their composition and low alpha diversity. Vegetation and soil respond to altitude, and therefore temperature, as an integrated system, a model that goes beyond niche assembly as shown by the significant effect of space in the VARPART.
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spelling pubmed-65406552019-06-03 Drivers of tropical rainforest composition and alpha diversity patterns over a 2,520 m altitudinal gradient Veintimilla, Dario Ngo Bieng, Marie Ange Delgado, Diego Vilchez‐Mendoza, Sergio Zamora, Nelson Finegan, Bryan Ecol Evol Original Research AIM: We sought to determine the relationship of forest composition and alpha diversity (the species diversity of a local assemblage) to altitude, soil, and spatial factors over a 440–2,950 m a.s.l gradient. LOCATION: Altitudinal gradient on the Caribbean slope of the Talamanca Cordillera, Costa Rica. TAXON: Angiosperm and gymnosperm trees, palms, and tree ferns. METHODS: We measured and identified all stems ≥10 cm dbh in 32 0.25‐ha undisturbed rain forest plots over the gradient. We determined compositional patterns using Non‐Metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMS) ordination, and used linear regressions to explore the relationship between four alpha diversity metrics and altitude. With variation partitioning (VARPART), we determined the compositional variation explained by altitude, soil, and spatial variables quantified using Principle Components of Neighbor matrices. RESULTS: We identified 425 species. NMS axis 1 separated a lowland zone (440–1,120 m asl) from a transitional one dominated by holarctic Oreomunnea mexicana (1,400–1,600 m asl) and Quercus‐dominated forests at altitudes >2,100 m asl. The lowland zone was separated into two clusters of plots on NMS axis 2, the first in the 430–620 m asl range and the second at 1,000–1,120 masl. Regressions showed that all alpha diversity metrics were strongly negatively related to altitude (R (2) > 0.78). Overall, adjusted R (2) from VARPART was 0.43, with 0.30, 0.21, and 0.17 for altitude, soil, and space respectively. The respective adjusted R (2) of individual matrices, on controlling for the other two, was 0.06, 0.05 and 0.09 (p < 0.001). MAIN CONCLUSIONS: There are two well‐defined forest compositional zones on this gradient—lowlands 430–1,120 m asl and montane forests >2,150 m asl—with a transitional zone at 1,400–1,600 m asl, where lowland tropical and montane holarctic species are found together. Montane forests are very distinct in their composition and low alpha diversity. Vegetation and soil respond to altitude, and therefore temperature, as an integrated system, a model that goes beyond niche assembly as shown by the significant effect of space in the VARPART. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2019-04-16 /pmc/articles/PMC6540655/ /pubmed/31160993 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5155 Text en © 2019 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Veintimilla, Dario
Ngo Bieng, Marie Ange
Delgado, Diego
Vilchez‐Mendoza, Sergio
Zamora, Nelson
Finegan, Bryan
Drivers of tropical rainforest composition and alpha diversity patterns over a 2,520 m altitudinal gradient
title Drivers of tropical rainforest composition and alpha diversity patterns over a 2,520 m altitudinal gradient
title_full Drivers of tropical rainforest composition and alpha diversity patterns over a 2,520 m altitudinal gradient
title_fullStr Drivers of tropical rainforest composition and alpha diversity patterns over a 2,520 m altitudinal gradient
title_full_unstemmed Drivers of tropical rainforest composition and alpha diversity patterns over a 2,520 m altitudinal gradient
title_short Drivers of tropical rainforest composition and alpha diversity patterns over a 2,520 m altitudinal gradient
title_sort drivers of tropical rainforest composition and alpha diversity patterns over a 2,520 m altitudinal gradient
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6540655/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31160993
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5155
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