Palm species richness, abundance and diversity in the Yucatan Peninsula, in a neotropical context

Abstract

Species richness, abundance and diversity patterns in palm communities in the Yucatan Peninsula were compared at three sites with different forest types (semi-deciduous, semi-evergreen and evergreen), as well as different precipitation, geomorphology and soil depth. All individual palms, including seedlings, juveniles and adults, were identified and counted in forty-five (0.25 ha) transects. A total of 46 000 individual palms belonging to 11 species from nine genera and two subfamilies were recorded. Palm richness, diversity and abundance were highest in the evergreen forest. Species from the subfamily Coryphoideae dominated the semi-deciduous and semi-evergreen forests while species from the subfamily Arecoideae dominated the evergreen forest. Seven species were found only in the evergreen forest. Chamaedorea seifrizii and Sabal yapa were found in all three forest types, while Thrinax radiata was found in the semi-deciduous and semievergreen forests and Cocothrinax readii only in the semi-evergreen forest. Compared to other neotropical palm communities, the richness and diversity in the Yucatan Peninsula are lower than in the western Amazon basin. Although palm richness and diversity on the Yucatan Peninsula were positively associated with precipitation, other variables, in particular soil depth and fertility as well as habitat heterogeneity (microtopography and canopy cover), need to be considered to better understand the observed patterns.

Diversidad de comunidades de palmas en el Chocó biogeográfico y su relación con la precipitación

“…En nuestro estudio, los géneros con mayor número de especies corresponden a palmas de sotobosque (Geonoma con diez especies y Bactris con ocho) que son también el grupo más rico en especies en (Eiserhardt et al 2011). La correlación positiva encontrada entre diversidad de palmas y precipitación a escala regional corrobora lo encontrado en estudios anteriores en América, África y Madagascar (Bjorholm et al 2005, Blach-Overgaard et al 2010, Eiserhardt et al 2011, Alvarado-Segura et al 2012, Rakotoarinivo et al 2013, Tovaranonte et al 2015. Esto confirma que la riqueza de especies de palmas incrementa con la precipitación a escalas continentales y regionales.…”

“…En Tailandia, la precipitación es el segundo factor más importante después de la latitud en explicar la diversidad y distribución de especies de palmas (Tovaranonte et al 2015). En la Península de Yucatán Mexicana la riqueza de palmas fue asociada positivamente con la precipitación, pero no con la abundancia (Alvarado-Segura et al 2012). En el Chocó, Ramírez y Galeano (2011) estudiaron a escala regional la relación entre la precipitación y la riqueza de palmas, y plantearon la hipótesis que la riqueza aumenta hacia el centro de la región, donde la precipitación es mayor.…”

Palm Foliage as Pathways of Pathogenic Botryosphaeriaceae Fungi and Host of New Lasiodiplodia Species from Mexico

“…Despite the fact that sampling was restricted to Mexico, this study is the first targeting on Botryosphaeriaceae fungi from various palms species and their pathogenic potential. Mexico, as an important hotspot of tropical palm species [ 38 , 39 ], was the unique supplier of palm foliage to German market during the sampling period. The foliage of four out of the five palms species hosted a diversity of five Botryosphaeriaceae species.…”

“…Nevertheless, if L. missouriana has been synonymized to one of its purported parents, L. gilanensis [ 37 ], the other three hybrid species are further on consistently resolved as distinct species [ 25 , 37 , 42 ]. Higher genetic similarity characterizing Lasiodiplodia species may affect many genes [ 37 , 39 ], thus distinct and distant species as resolved in multilocus analysis, may be essentially different by few nucleotides on a single gene [ 37 ]. This seems to be the case for L. mexicanensis differing from closely related species L. parva , L. citricola and L. euphorbicola by few nucleotides on ITS , TEF-1α , TUB2 and RPB2 genes.…”

Beta diversity of four braconid subfamilies (Braconidae, Agathidinae, Braconinae, Doryctinae and Macrocentrinae) of the Ria Lagartos Biosphere reserve in Yucatan, Mexico, with some considerations on biological habits

“…Tropical deciduous forests in the Yucatan have up to 103 different species of woody plants in a small area (0.1 hectare) (Gutierrez et al 2011). By example, a large proportion of palm genera and subfamilies reported from Mexico are in Yucatan tropical deciduous forests (Alvarado-Segura et al 2012).…”