Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T06:00:56.343Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Determinants of rain-forest floristic variation on an altitudinal gradient in southern Costa Rica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2012

Adina Chain-Guadarrama ,
Bryan Finegan ,
Sergio Vilchez  and
Fernando Casanoves
Adina Chain-Guadarrama*
Affiliation:
Graduate School, Mailbox 152, Tropical Agricultural Centre for Research and Higher Education (CATIE), Turrialba 30501, Costa Rica
Bryan Finegan
Affiliation:
Production and Conservation in Forests Program, Tropical Agricultural Centre for Research and Higher Education (CATIE), Turrialba 30501, Costa Rica
Sergio Vilchez
Affiliation:
Biostatistics Unit, Tropical Agricultural Centre for Research and Higher Education (CATIE), Turrialba 30501, Costa Rica
Fernando Casanoves
Affiliation:
Biostatistics Unit, Tropical Agricultural Centre for Research and Higher Education (CATIE), Turrialba 30501, Costa Rica
*
1Corresponding author. Email: achain@catie.ac.cr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

The degree to which geographical location rather than environment affects the maintenance of high tropical forest beta diversity on altitudinal gradients is not well understood. Forest composition and its relationship to climate, soil, altitude and geographical distance were determined across an 1114-km2 landscape in south Pacific Costa Rica spanning an altitudinal gradient (0–1500 m asl). In 37 0.25-ha plots, > 200 species of dicot trees (≥ 30 cm dbh) and canopy palms (≥ 10 cm dbh) were found. Ordination analysis showed strong species composition patterns related to altitude; plot coordinates on the main axis showed negative correlations to the abundance of lowland-forest species Iriartea deltoidea (r = −0.54) and Brosimum utile (r = −0.65), and positive correlations to higher-altitude species Alchornea glandulosa (r = 0.63), Quercus sp. (r = 0.50) and Ocotea sp. 2 (r = 0.48). Mantel correlations, correlograms and variation partitioning analysis of relationships between floristic composition and spatial and environmental factors indicated that spatial location of the plots – potentially, dispersal limitation – was the single most important (R2adj = 0.149) driver of beta diversity, but that environmental heterogeneity also plays an important role. In particular, palm species turnover was strongly related to soil chemical properties. The effects of dispersal limitation on floristic assembly could determine the future distribution of plant communities as a result of climate change.

Keywords

altitudebeta diversitycanopy treescanopy palmsclimate changedispersal assemblygeographical distanceniche assemblyvariation partitioning
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 28 , Issue 5 , September 2012 , pp. 463 - 481
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

BLANCHET, G., LEGENDRE, P. & BORCARD, D. 2008. Forward selection of explanatory variables. Ecology 89:2623–2632.Google Scholar
BOHLMAN, S. A., LAURANCE, W. F., LAURANCE, , , S. G., NASCIMENTO, H. E. M., FEARNSIDE, P. M. & ANDRADE, A. 2008. Importance of soils, topography and geographic distance in structuring central Amazonian tree communities. Journal of Vegetation Science 19:863–874.Google Scholar
BORCARD, D. & LEGENDRE, P. 2002. All-scale spatial analysis of ecological data by means of principal coordinates of neighbour matrices. Ecological Modelling 153:51–68.Google Scholar
BORCARD, D., LEGENDRE, P. & DRAPEAU, P. 1992. Partialling out the spatial component of ecological variation. Ecology 73:1045–1055.Google Scholar
BOURONCLE, C. & FINEGAN, B. 2011. Tree regeneration and understory woody plants show diverse responses to forest–pasture edges in Costa Rica. Biotropica 43:562–571.Google Scholar
CAICCO, S. L., SCOTT, J. M., BUTTERFIELD, B. & CSUTI, B. 1995. A GAP analysis of the management status of the vegetation of Idaho (USA). Conservation Biology 9:498–511.Google Scholar
CÉSPEDES, M., FINEGAN, B., HERRERA, B., DELGADO, L. D., VELÁSQUEZ, S. & CAMPOS, J. J. 2008. Diseño de una red ecológica de conservación entre la Reserva de Biosfera La Amistad y las áreas protegidas del Área de Conservación Osa, Costa Rica. Recursos Naturales y Ambiente 54:44–50.Google Scholar
CHAZDON, R. L., FINEGAN, B., CAPERS, R. S., SALGADO-NEGRET, B., CASANOVES, F., BOUKILI, V. & NORDEN, N. 2010. Composition and dynamics of functional groups of trees during tropical forest succession in Northeastern Costa Rica. Biotropica 42:31–40.Google Scholar
CHUST, G., CHAVE, J., CONDIT, R., AGUILAR, S., LAO, S. & PÉREZ, R. 2006. Determinants and spatial modeling of tree β-diversity in a tropical forest landscape in Panama. Journal of Vegetation Science 17:83–92.Google Scholar
CLARK, D. A., CLARK, D. B., SANDOVAL, R. & CASTRO, M. V. 1995. Edaphic and human effects on landscape-scale distributions of tropical rain forest palms. Ecology 76:2581–2594.Google Scholar
CONDIT, R., PITMAN, N., LEIGH, E. G., CHAVE, J., TERBORGH, J., FOSTER, R. B., NÚÑEZ, P., AGUILAR, S., VALENCIA, R., VILLA, G., MULLER-LANDAU, H. C., LOSOS, E. & HUBBELL, S. P. 2002. Beta-diversity in tropical forest trees. Science 295:666–669.Google Scholar
COSTA, F. R. C., GUILLAUMET, J.-L., LIMA, A. P. & PEREIRA, O. 2009. Gradients within gradients: the mesoscale distribution patterns of palms in a central Amazonian forest. Journal of Vegetation Science 20:69–78.Google Scholar
DE BLOIS, S., DOMON, G. & BOUCHARD, A. 2002. Landscape issues in plant ecology. Ecography 25:244–256.Google Scholar
DRAY, S., LEGENDRE, P. & PERES-NETO, P. R. 2006. Spatial modelling: a comprehensive framework for principal coordinate analysis of neighbour matrices (PCNM). Ecological Modelling 196:483–493.Google Scholar
DUIVENVOORDEN, J. F., SVENNING, J. C. & WRIGHT, S. J. 2002. Beta-diversity in tropical forests. Science 395:636–637.Google Scholar
DUQUE, A., SÁNCHEZ, M., CAVELIER, J. & DUIVENVOORDEN, F. 2002. Different floristic patterns of woody understorey and canopy plants in Colombian Amazonia. Journal of Tropical Ecology 18:499–525.Google Scholar
DUQUE, A., PHILLIPS, J. F., VON HILDEBRAND, P., POSADA, C. A., PRIETO, A., RUDAS, A., SUESCÚN, M. & STEVENSON, P. 2009. Distance decay of tree species similarity in protected areas on terra firme forests in Colombian Amazonia. Biotropica 41:599–607.Google Scholar
ENQUIST, C. A. F. 2002. Predicted regional impacts of climate change on the geographical distribution and diversity of tropical forests in Costa Rica. Journal of Biogeography 29:529–534.Google Scholar
FASSBENDER, H. W. & BORNEMISZA, E. 1987. Química de suelos con énfasis en suelos de América Latina. (Second Edition). IICA, San José. 420 pp.Google Scholar
FINEGAN, B. & DELGADO, D. 2000. Structural and floristic heterogeneity in a 30-year-old Costa Rican rain forest restored on pasture through natural secondary succession. Restoration Ecology 8:380–393.Google Scholar
GENTRY, A. H. 1988. Changes in plant community diversity and floristic composition on environmental and geographical gradients. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 75:1–34.Google Scholar
GENTRY, A. H. 1992. Tropical forest biodiversity: distributional patterns and their conservational significance. Oikos 63:19–28.Google Scholar
GILBERT, B. & BENNETT, J. R. 2010. Partitioning variation in ecological communities: do the numbers add up? Journal of Applied Ecology 47:1071–1082.Google Scholar
GIVNISH, T. J. 1999. On the causes of gradients in tropical tree diversity. Journal of Ecology 87:193–210.Google Scholar
GRAYUM, M. H., HAMMEL, B. E. & ZAMORA, N. 2004. El ambiente físico. Pp. 51–90 in Hammel, B. E., Grayum, M. H., Herrera, C. & Zamora, N. (eds.). Manual de plantas de Costa Rica Volumen I: Introducción. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis. 299 pp.Google Scholar
GREIG-SMITH, P. 1983. Quantitative plant ecology. (Third Edition). Blackwell Scientific, Oxford. 359 pp.Google Scholar
GRUBB, P. J. 1977. Control of forest growth and distribution on wet tropical mountains: with special reference to mineral nutrition. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 8:83–107.Google Scholar
HIJMANS, R. J., CAMERON, S. E., PARRA, J. L., JONES, P. G. & JARVIS, A. 2005. Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. International Journal of Climatology 25:1965–1978.Google Scholar
HOMEIER, J., BRECKLE, S.-W., GÜNTER, S., ROLLENBECK, R. T. & LEUSCHNER, C. 2010. Tree diversity, forest structure and productivity along altitudinal and topographical gradients in a species-rich Ecuadorian montane rain forest. Biotropica 42:140–148.Google Scholar
HONORIO CORONADO, E. N., BAKER, T. R., PHILLIPS, O. L., PITMAN, N. C. A., PENNINGTON, R. T., VÁSQUEZ MARTÍNEZ, R., MONTEAGUDO, A., MOGOLLÓN, H., DÁVILA CARDOZO, N., RÍOS, M., GARCÍA-VILLACORTA, R., VALDERRAMA, E., AHUITE, M., HUAMANTUPA, I., NEILL, D. A., LAURANCE, W. F., NASCIMENTO, H. E. M., SOARES DE ALMEIDA, S., KILLEEN, T. J., ARROYO, L., NÚÑEZ, P. & FREITAS ALVARADO, L. 2009. Multi-scale comparisons of tree composition in Amazonian terra firme forests. Biogeosciences 6:2719–2731.Google Scholar
HUBBELL, S. P. 2001. The unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton. 448 pp.Google Scholar
IMBACH, P., MOLINA, L., LOCATELLI, B., ROUPSARD, O., MAHÉ, G., NEILSON, R., CORRALES, L., SCHOLZE, M. & CIAIS, P. 2012. Modeling potential equilibrium states of vegetation and terrestrial water cycle of Mesoamerica under climate change scenarios. Journal of Hydrometeorology 13:665–680.Google Scholar
ISLEBE, G. A., HOOGHIEMSTRA, H. & VAN DER BORG, K. 1995. A cooling event during the Younger Dryas Chron in Costa Rica. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 117:73–80.Google Scholar
ITCR 2004. Atlas digital de Costa Rica. Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Escuela de Ingeniería Forestal, Laboratorio de Información Geográfica, Cartago, CR.Google Scholar
JOHN, R., DALLING, J. W., HARMS, K. E., YAVITT, J. B., STALLARD, R. F., MIRABELLO, M., HUBBELL, S. P., VALENCIA, R., NAVARRETE, H., VALLEJO, M. & FOSTER, R. B. 2007. Soil nutrients influence spatial distributions of tropical tree species. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104:864–869.Google Scholar
JONES, M. M., TUOMISTO, H., CLARK, D. B. & OLIVAS, P. 2006. Effects of mesoscale environmental heterogeneity and dispersal limitation on floristic variation in rain forest ferns. Journal of Ecology 94:181–195.Google Scholar
JONES, M. M., TUOMISTO, H., BORCARD, D., LEGENDRE, P., CLARK, D. B. & OLIVAS, P. C. 2008. Explaining variation in tropical plant community composition: influence of environmental and spatial data quality. Oecologia 155:593–604.Google Scholar
LEGENDRE, P. 2008. Studying beta diversity: ecological variation partitioning by multiple regression and canonical analysis. Journal of Plant Ecology 31:976–981.Google Scholar
LEGENDRE, P. & GALLAGHER, E. D. 2001. Ecologically meaningful transformations for ordination of species data. Oecologia 129:271–280.Google Scholar
LEGENDRE, P. & LEGENDRE, L. 1998. Numerical ecology. (Second English Edition). Elsevier Science, Amsterdam. 853 pp.Google Scholar
LEGENDRE, P., BORCARD, D. & PERES-NETO, P. R. 2005. Analyzing beta diversity: partitioning the spatial variation of community composition data. Ecological Monographs 75:435–450.Google Scholar
LEGENDRE, P., MI, X., REN, H., MA, K., YU, M., SUN, I-F. & HE, F. 2009. Partitioning beta diversity in a subtropical broad-leaved forest of China. Ecology 90:663–674.Google Scholar
LIEBERMAN, D., LIEBERMAN, M., PERALTA, R. & HARTSHORN, G. S. 1996. Tropical forest structure and composition on a large scale altitudinal gradient in Costa Rica. Journal of Ecology 84:137–152.Google Scholar
LOMOLINO, M. V. 2001. Elevation gradients of species-density: historical and prospective views. Global Ecology and Biogeography 10:3–13.Google Scholar
MACÍA, M. J., RUOKOLAINEN, K., TUOMISTO, H., QUISBERT, J. & CALA, D. V. 2007. Congruence between floristic patterns of trees and lianas in a southwest Amazonian rain forest. Ecography 30:561–577.Google Scholar
MALHI, Y., SILMAN, M., SALINAS, N., BUSH, M., MEIR, P. & SAATCHI, S. 2011. Introduction: Elevation gradients in the tropics: laboratories for ecosystem ecology and global change research. Global Change Biology 16:3171–3175.Google Scholar
MARINI, L., BONA, E., KUNIN, W. E. & GASTON, K. J. 2011. Exploring anthropogenic and natural processes shaping fern species richness along elevational gradients. Journal of Biogeography 38:78–88.Google Scholar
MARTIN, P. H., FAHEY, T. J. & SHERMAN, R. E. 2011. Vegetation zonation in a Neotropical montane forest: environment, disturbance and ecotones. Biotropica 43:533–543.Google Scholar
NORMAND, S., VORMISTO, J., SVENNING, J., GRÁNDEZ, C. & BALSLEV, H. 2006. Geographical and environmental controls of palm beta diversity in paleo-riverine terrace forests in Amanonian Peru. Plant Ecology 186:161–176.Google Scholar
PEARSON, R. G. & DAWSON, T. P. 2003. Predicting the impacts of climate change on the distribution of species: are bioclimate envelope models useful? Global Ecology and Biogeography 12:361–371.Google Scholar
PEARSON, R. G. & DAWSON, T. P. 2005. Long-distance plant dispersal and habitat fragmentation: identifying conservation targets for spatial landscape planning under climate change. Biological Conservation 123:389–401.Google Scholar
PERES-NETO, P. R., LEGENDRE, P., DRAY, S. & BORCARD, D. 2006. Variation partitioning of species data matrices: estimation and comparison of fractions. Ecology 87:2614–2625.Google Scholar
PHILLIPS, O. L., NÚÑEZ-VARGAS, P., MONTEAGUDO, A. L., PEÑA-CRUZ, A., CHUSPEZANS, M. E., GALIANO-SÁNCHEZ, W., YLI-HALLA, M. & ROSE, S. 2003. Habitat association among Amazonian tree species: a landscape-scale approach. Journal of Ecology 91:757–775.Google Scholar
POTTS, M. D., ASHTON, P. S., KAUFMAN, L. S. & PLOTKIN, J. B. 2002. Habitat patterns in tropical rain forests: a comparison of 105 plots in northwest Borneo. Ecology 83:2782–2797.Google Scholar
POULSEN, A. D., TOUMISTO, H. & BALSLEV, H. 2006. Edaphic and floristic variation within a 1-ha plot of lowland Amazonian rain forest. Biotropica 38:468–478.Google Scholar
PYKE, C. R., CONDIT, R., AGUILAR, S. & LAO, S. 2001. Floristic composition across a climatic gradient in a Neotropical lowland forest. Journal of Vegetation Science 12:553–566.Google Scholar
RAMOS, Z. & FINEGAN, B. 2006. Red ecológica de conectividad potencial: estrategia para el manejo del paisaje en el corredor biológico San Juan – La Selva. Revista de Recursos Naturales y Ambiente 49:112–123.Google Scholar
RODRÍGUEZ, J. P., RODRÍGUEZ-CLARK, K. M., BAILLIE, J. E. M., ASH, N., BENSON, J., BOUCHER, T., BROWN, C., BURGESS, N. D., COLLEN, B., JENNINGS, M., KEITH, D. A., NICHOLSON, E., REVENGA, C., REYERS, B., ROUGET, M., SMITH, T., SPALDING, M., TABER, A., WALPOLE, M., ZAGER, I. & ZAMIN, T. 2011. Establishing IUCN red list criteria for threatened ecosystems. Conservation Biology 25:21–9.Google Scholar
ROSENBERG, M. S. & ANDERSON, C. D. 2011. PASSaGE: Pattern Analysis, Spatial Statistics, and Geographic Exegesis. Version 2. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 2:229–232.Google Scholar
RUOKOLAINEN, K., TUOMISTO, H., MACÍA, M. J., HIGGINS, M. A. & YLI-HALLA, M. 2007. Are floristic and edaphic patterns in Amazonian rain forests congruent for trees, pteridophytes and Melastomataceae? Journal of Tropical Ecology 23:13–25.Google Scholar
SÁNCHEZ, P. A. 1981. Suelos del trópico: características y manejo. IICA, San José. 660 pp.Google Scholar
SESNIE, S. E., FINEGAN, B., GESSLER, P. & RAMOS, Z. 2009. Landscape-scale environmental and floristic variation in Costa Rican old-growth rain forest remnants. Biotropica 41:16–26.Google Scholar
TUOMISTO, H., RUOKOLAINEN, K. & YLI-HALLA, M. 2003a. Dispersal, environment, and floristic variation of western Amazonian forests. Science 299:241–244.Google Scholar
TUOMISTO, H., RUOKOLAINEN, K., AGUILAR, M. & SARMIENTO, A. 2003b. Floristic patterns along a 43-km long transect in an Amazonian rain forest. Journal of Ecology 91:743–756.Google Scholar
TUOMISTO, H., POULSEN, A. D., RUOKOLAINEN, K., MORAN, R. C., QUINTANA, C., CELI, J. & CAÑAS, G. 2003c. Linking floristic patterns with soil heterogeneity and satellite imagery in Ecuadorian Amazonia. Ecological Applications 13:352–371.Google Scholar
VALENCIA, R., FOSTER, R. B., VILLA, G., CONDIT, R., SVENNING, J.-C., HERNÁNDEZ, C., ROMOLEROUX, K., LOSOS, E., MAGÅRD, E. & BALSLEV, H. 2004. Tree species distributions and local habitat variation in the Amazon: large forest plot in eastern Ecuador. Journal of Ecology 92:214–229.Google Scholar
VORMISTO, J., SVENNING, J. C., HALL, P. & BALSLEV, H. 2004. Diversity and dominance in palm (Arecaceae) communities in terra firme forests in the western Amazon Basin. Journal of Ecology 92:577–588.Google Scholar