Stability structures tropical woody plant diversity more than seasonality: Insights into the ecology of high legume-succulent-plant biodiversity

Oliveira‐Filho, Ary Teixeira de; Cardoso, Domingos; Schrire, Brian; Lewis, Gwilym P.; Pennington, R. Toby; Brummer, Tyler J.; Rotella, Jay J.; Lavin, Matt

doi:10.1016/j.sajb.2013.06.010

Cited by 48 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Here, we show that African savanna trees represent an even more phylogenetically dispersed set of taxa, suggesting that shifts from the forest to savanna biome in Africa were at least as frequent. A paucity of endemic genera in both cerrado (Simon et al ., ) and African savanna further supports parallels in the evolutionary origins of these biomes and a history of frequent shifts from forest to savanna with only few radiations within the savanna biome (see also Oliveira‐Filho et al ., ). In addition, we find that evolutionary divergences between African savanna trees are younger than those between forest trees.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Savanna fire and the origins of the ‘underground forests’ of Africa

et al. 2014

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SummaryThe origin of fire-adapted lineages is a long-standing question in ecology. Although phylogeny can provide a significant contribution to the ongoing debate, its use has been precluded by the lack of comprehensive DNA data. Here, we focus on the 'underground trees' (=geoxy-les) of southern Africa, one of the most distinctive growth forms characteristic of fire-prone savannas.We placed geoxyles within the most comprehensive dated phylogeny for the regional flora comprising over 1400 woody species. Using this phylogeny, we tested whether African geoxyles evolved concomitantly with those of the South American cerrado and used their phylogenetic position to date the appearance of humid savannas.We found multiple independent origins of the geoxyle life-form mostly from the Pliocene, a period consistent with the origin of cerrado, with the majority of divergences occurring within the last 2 million yr. When contrasted with their tree relatives, geoxyles occur in regions characterized by higher rainfall and greater fire frequency.Our results indicate that the geoxylic growth form may have evolved in response to the interactive effects of frequent fires and high precipitation. As such, geoxyles may be regarded as markers of fire-maintained savannas occurring in climates suitable for forests.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Savanna fire and the origins of the ‘underground forests’ of Africa

et al. 2014

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“…, Oliveira‐Filho et al. ). However, a large area of the wet tropics contains savannas and forests that coexist adjacent to one another as alternative biome states overlapping in climates and soils (Staver et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of particular interest is the recent finding that N fixation allows N-fixing plants to maintain high foliar N concentrations and thereby use R eports water more efficiently than non-fixing plants (Adams et al 2016). Savannas are, on average, drier than forests in the tropics (Staver et al 2011), which may introduce confounding effects of climate given that rainfall may alter the supply and demand of both nitrogen and water (Pellegrini 2016), thus confounding water/climate vs. nutrient-related effects (Delgado-Baquerizo et al 2013, Oliveira-Filho et al 2013). However, a large area of the wet tropics contains savannas and forests that coexist adjacent to one another as alternative biome states overlapping in climates and soils (Staver et al 2011, Dantas et al 2016).…”

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confidence: 99%

Aridity, not fire, favors nitrogen‐fixing plants across tropical savanna and forest biomes

Pellegrini

Staver

Hedin

et al. 2016

Ecology

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Abstract. Tropical savannas are hypothesized to be hot spots of nitrogen-fixer diversity and activity because of the high disturbance and low nitrogen characteristic of savanna landscapes. Here we compare the abundances of nitrogen-fixing and non-fixing trees in both tropical savannas and tropical forests under climatically equivalent conditions, using plant inventory studies across 566 plots in South America and Africa. A single factor, aridity, explained 19-54% of the variance in fixer abundance, and unexpectedly was more important than fire frequency, biome, and continent. Nitrogen fixers were more abundant in arid environments; as a result, African savannas, which tend to be drier, were richer in nitrogen fixers than South American savannas. Fixer abundance converged on similar levels in forests in both continents. We conclude that climate plays a greater role than fire in determining the distribution of nitrogen fixers across tropical savanna and forest biomes.

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“…A vegetação de caatinga é o maior e um dos mais diversos núcleos das florestas tropicais sazonalmente secas (FTSS), que compõem um bioma neotropical com distribuição disjunta e fortemente marcado pela sazonalidade climática, precipitação anual abaixo de 1200 mm, estrato herbáceo efêmero e alta diversidade e endemismo de Leguminosae (Pennington et al 2000;Queiroz 2006;Linares-Palomino et al 2010;Särkinen et al 2011;Oliveira-Filho et al 2013). Ocupando uma área de cerca de 850.000 km 2 , a Caatinga estende-se desde ca.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Variações locais na riqueza florística em duas ecorregiões de caatinga

et al. 2015

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A vegetação de caatinga do nordeste brasileiro ocorre principalmente sobre dois tipos de substrato principais: sobre solos derivados do embasamento cristalino pré-cambriano e sobre a cobertura arenosa das bacias sedimentares. Evidências recentes têm demonstrado variações na dinâmica, estrutura e composição florística da caatinga desses dois macroambientes, o que fundamenta a necessidade de estudos com enfoque nas diferenças florísticas entre esses diferentes substratos. O presente estudo florístico das ecorregiões de caatinga, Depressão Sertaneja Meridional e Raso da Catarina, no município de Tucano, Bahia, é de especial interesse porque neste município ocorrem esses dois substratos em escala geográfica local, permitindo ampliar o conhecimento sobre a heterogeneidade do Domínio da Caatinga. Neste trabalho é apresentado um inventário florístico de 14 localidades nestas duas ecorregiões da Caatinga. Em conjunto, as caatingas amostradas apresentaram uma alta riqueza florística em comparação com outras áreas no nordeste do Brasil. Foram coletadas 450 espécies, 288 gêneros e 82 famílias. A maior riqueza em espécies foi das Leguminosae, seguida por Euphorbiaceae. Nas localidades sobre substrato derivado do embasamento cristalino ocorreram 226 espécies, enquanto nas de substrato arenoso ocorreram 284 espécies. A proporção de espécies em comum entre esses dois tipos de substrato foi de apenas 13%. Diferenças em composição florística reforçam a hipótese de duas biotas distintas associadas aos dois principais tipos de substrato, que compõem a vegetação da caatinga. Palavras-chave: floresta sazonalmente seca, Depressão Sertaneja Meridional, Raso da Catarina, semiárido brasileiro. AbstractThe caatinga vegetation of northeastern Brazil occurs mainly in Pre-Cambrian, crystalline-derived soils and also on sedimentary-basin-derived sandy soils. Recent evidence has shown variations in the dynamics, structure and floristic composition of the caatinga over these two different edaphic macro-environments, which justifies the need for studies focusing on different substrates. A floristic study of the caatinga ecoregions Depressão Sertaneja Meridional and Raso da Catarina in the municipality of Tucano, Bahia, Brazil, is of special interest because both substrates occur in a local scale, allowing the opportunity to broaden our knowledge on ecological heterogeneity within the Caatinga biome. In the current study we carried out a floristic survey of 14 sites distributed throughout the ecoregions of caatinga in Tucano. We found high species diversity in the caatingas of Tucano when compared to other areas in northeastern Brazil. A total of 450 species, 288 genera, and 82 families were collected. The most species rich families are Leguminosae and Euphorbiaceae. There occur 226 species in the sites on crystalline basement, whereas 284 species were collected in the sandy areas. The ecoregions were only 13% similar in floristic composition. We found strong differences between the ecoregions with respect to floristic composition and predominan...

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Stability structures tropical woody plant diversity more than seasonality: Insights into the ecology of high legume-succulent-plant biodiversity

Cited by 48 publications

References 51 publications

Savanna fire and the origins of the ‘underground forests’ of Africa

Savanna fire and the origins of the ‘underground forests’ of Africa

Aridity, not fire, favors nitrogen‐fixing plants across tropical savanna and forest biomes

Variações locais na riqueza florística em duas ecorregiões de caatinga

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