Spatial segregation of subordinate species is not controlled by the dominant species in a tropical coastal plant community

Garbin, Mário Luís; Guidoni‐Martins, Karlo Gregório; Hollunder, Renan Köpp; Mariotte, Pierre; Scarano, Fábio Rúbio; Carrijo, Tatiana Tavares

doi:10.1016/j.ppees.2015.12.002

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…ranging from 51% to 68%), a considerable amount of variation remained unexplained (32% to 49%). These findings suggest the existence of other factors beyond the physicochemical soil properties influencing forest physiognomy and functional composition, highlighting the importance of the biotic interactions, such as competition (Garbin et al 2016) and facilitation (Garbin et al 2014), and climatic drivers, whose investigation could further broaden our understanding of the drivers of forest composition and function in the threatened coastal Atlantic Forest.…”

Section: Quintal Et Al 2017)mentioning

confidence: 94%

Drivers of plant traits and forest functional composition in coastal plant communities of the Atlantic Forest

Lourenço

Newman

Ventura

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The severe deforestation of Brazil's Atlantic Forest and increasing effects of climate change underscore the need to understand how tree species respond to climate and soil drivers. We studied 42 plots of coastal restinga forest, which is highly diverse and spans strong environmental gradients. We determined the forest physiognomy and functional composition, which are physical properties of a community that respond to climate and soil properties, to elucidate which factors drive community-level traits. To identify the most important environmental drivers of coastal Atlantic forest functional composition, we performed a forest inventory of all plants of diameter 5 cm and above. We collected wood samples and leaves from ~85% of the most abundant plant species and estimated height, aboveground biomass (AGB), and Lourenço, Jr. et al. Plant trait drivers in flooded forests 2 basal area of individual plants, and the community-weighted specific leaf area (SLA). In addition to plant traits, we measured water table depth and 25 physicochemical soil parameters. We then parameterized several models for different hypotheses relating the roles of nutrients and soil to tropical forest diversity and functioning, as represented by plant traits. Hypotheses were formalized via generalized additive models and piecewise structural equation models. Water table depth, soil coarseness, potential acidity, sodium saturation index (SSI) and aluminum concentration were all components of the best models for AGB, height, basal area, and trait composition. Among the 25 environmental parameters measured, those related to water availability (water table depth and coarse sand), followed by potential acidity, SSI, and aluminum consistently emerged as the most important drivers of forest physiognomy and functional composition. Increases in water table depth, coarse sand, and soil concentration of aluminum negatively impacted all the measured functional traits, whereas SSI had a positive effect on AGB and plant height. These results suggest that sodium is not merely tolerated by Atlantic Forest restinga plant communities, but is important to their structure and functioning. Presence of aluminum in the soil had a complex relationship to overall basal area, possibly mediated by soil organic matter.

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Section: Quintal Et Al 2017)mentioning

confidence: 94%

Drivers of plant traits and forest functional composition in coastal plant communities of the Atlantic Forest

Lourenço

Newman

Ventura

et al. 2019

Preprint

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“…with its role in ameliorating stressful environmental conditions (Dias & Scarano, ). This nurse tree attains dominance by its higher capacity to tolerate water deficits (Rosado & de Mattos, ) and by its higher production of diaspores per flower than subordinate species (Garbin et al., ). Bromeliads are also abundant and provide safe germination sites for other plant species (Scarano, ; Scarano et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term regeneration of a tropical plant community after sand mining

Garbin

Misaki

Ferreira

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Sandy coastal plant communities in tropical regions have been historically under strong anthropic pressure. In Brazil, these systems shelter communities with highly plastic plant species. However, the potential of these systems to regenerate without human assistance after disturbances has hardly been examined. We determined the natural regeneration of a coastal sandy plain vegetation (restinga) in Brazil, 16 years after the end of sand removal. We inventoried 38 plots: 20 within a sand‐mined site and 18 in an adjacent undisturbed site. We expected lower diversity values in the sand‐mined site compared to the undisturbed site, but similar species composition between the two sites due to the spatial proximity of the two sites and the high plasticity of restinga species. Species were ranked using abundance and importance value index in both sites, and comparisons were performed using Rényi entropy profiles, rarefaction curves, principal component analysis, and redundancy analysis. Species composition and dominant species differed markedly between the two sites. Bromeliads and Clusia hilariana, well‐known nurse plants, dominated the undisturbed site but were almost absent in the regenerating site. Species richness did not differ between both sites, but diversity was higher in the undisturbed site. Within‐site composition differences in the mined area were associated with field characteristics. Interestingly, species classified as subordinate or rare in the undisturbed site became dominants in the regenerating site. These newer dominants in the sand‐mined site are not those known as nurse plants in other restingas, thus yielding strong implications for restoration.

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“…Nevertheless, there is a multitude of other processes aff ecting the patterns of shrub layer vegetation within forests. Th ese include plant-plant interactions (Ewel & Hiremath 2005;Garbin et al 2016), deciduousness of trees (Souza et al 2014), soil heterogeneity (Tateno & Takeda 2003;Townsend et al 2008) and plant dispersal (Braz & Mattos 2010), all of which may interact with light heterogeneity. Th us, even though light can have a strong fi ltering eff ect on the organization of understory vegetation, the spatial organization of plant communities is a result of many diff erent processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Coastal systems represent a great challenge to plants that are constantly stressed by wind, salt, fl ooding and the threat of losing habitat due to sea level variation (Crawford 2008), requiring a continuous adjustment to changing climate conditions (Church et al 2013). Although negative interactions can also occur among subordinate species (Garbin et al 2016), positive interactions are an important structuring mechanism in restingas (Scarano 2002;Dias & Scarano 2007). Terrestrial bromeliads are an important component of these systems (Araujo 1992;Pereira et al 2004), known for nursing the Clusia hilariana Schltdl.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of terrestrial bromeliads in determining the spatial organization of plant life forms in a tropical coastal forest

et al. 2017

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Th e interplay betw een plant-plant interactions and light heterogeneity in the understory of tropical forests has rarely been examined. We aimed to identify the relative importance of the understory light environment and terrestrial bromeliads in explaining the abundance and spatial organization of diff erent plant life forms along a coastal forest gradient from seashore inland in southeastern Brazil. We estimated the abundance of various life forms (herbs, woody plants, bromeliads, climbers, and palms) and the degree of light availability using hemispherical photographs in 165 plots (1 m 2 ) within a 1.75 ha site. We used ordination methods, partial redundancy analysis (pRDA), spatial fi ltering using Moran's eigenvector mapping, and Moran's I splines. Forest cover was highly heterogeneous, but did not explain variation in abundance of life forms. Spatially, bromeliads were negatively associated with woody saplings, herbs and climbing plants at scales between 5-20 m, while the distance to seashore was found to be unrelated to these patterns. Our fi ndings revealed that terrestrial bromeliads play an important role in the spatial organization of various life forms near the forest fl oor. Overall, the presence of terrestrial bromeliads and the plant area index better explained the understory vegetation than forest cover and distance to seashore.

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Spatial segregation of subordinate species is not controlled by the dominant species in a tropical coastal plant community

Cited by 16 publications

References 80 publications

Drivers of plant traits and forest functional composition in coastal plant communities of the Atlantic Forest

Drivers of plant traits and forest functional composition in coastal plant communities of the Atlantic Forest

Long‐term regeneration of a tropical plant community after sand mining

The role of terrestrial bromeliads in determining the spatial organization of plant life forms in a tropical coastal forest

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