Subordinate, not dominant, woody species promote the diversity of climbing plants

Garbin, Mário Luís; Carrijo, Tatiana Tavares; Sansevero, Jerônimo Boelsums Barreto; Sánchez‐Tapia, Andrea; Scarano, Fábio Rúbio

doi:10.1016/j.ppees.2012.03.001

Cited by 31 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In forests with a well-developed understorey, climbing plants use trellises as support and reduce the dependence on lower branches of trees for reaching the canopy (Campbell & Newbery 1993). Hence, the abundance of shrubs/treelets that act as trellises in the low strata of vegetation patches increase richness and abundance of climbing plants (Garbin et al 2012). In our study, the higher light availability and trellis density might explain the high species abundance in small patches compared to other vegetation classes.…”

Section: Modelsmentioning

confidence: 54%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Phylogenetic and functional structure of climbing plant assemblages in woody patches advancing over Campos grassland

Seger

Cappelatti

Gonçalves

et al. 2017

J Vegetation Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Question Analysing taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional species distribution across a metacommunity allows understanding of how landscape dynamics may influence forest expansion over grassland. In this context, climbing plants are particularly interesting vegetation components, since they actively prospect the best sunlight position, altering forest structure. We investigated if forest structure differentiation along a patch size/isolation gradient would determine the distribution of phylogenetic clades, dispersal and/or establishment‐related traits in climbing plant assemblages. We hypothesized that taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional species diversities would show a nested pattern along the gradient of increasing vegetation complexity. Furthermore, less mobile diaspores, as well as climbing mechanisms independent of support limitations, and deeper phylogenetic clades characterized by shade‐tolerant species would be associated with more developed and less isolated patches. Location Subtropical grassland surrounded by Araucaria forest, southern Brazil. Method We recorded the composition and abundance of climbing plant species along a gradient of forest patches increasing in size and isolation from the surrounding continuous forest. We performed an analysis of principal coordinates of phylogenetic structure (PCPS) to investigate the distribution of phylogenetic clades across sites, tested its relationship with patch area and isolation using linear models, and for the correlation to species dispersal traits and climbing mechanisms. We employed the treeNODF (Nestedness based on Overlap and Decreasing Fill) method to estimate if there was a phylogenetic, compositional and/or functional nested pattern of the metacommunity structure during forest expansion over grassland. Results We found that species composition distribution was explained by patch size and isolation, but not by phylogeny. Dispersal traits were more structured along the gradient compared to climbing mechanisms. We also found a nested pattern of combined species and phylogenetic/functional diversities, where smaller patches are subsets of larger patches and of continuous forest sites. Conclusion Patch area, isolation and dispersal traits play significant roles in the distribution of climbing plants during the process of forest advance over grassland, independently of phylogenetic relatedness among species. The nested pattern indicated that continuous forest and larger patches provide all the diaspores that colonize the smaller patches in this process, making them important targets for conservation.

show abstract

Section: Modelsmentioning

confidence: 54%

“…Hence, the abundance of shrubs/treelets that act as trellises in the low strata of vegetation patches increase richness and abundance of climbing plants (Garbin et al. ). In our study, the higher light availability and trellis density might explain the high species abundance in small patches compared to other vegetation classes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenetic and functional structure of climbing plant assemblages in woody patches advancing over Campos grassland

Seger

Cappelatti

Gonçalves

et al. 2017

J Vegetation Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, cacti and pteridophytes were removed from the analyses due to their very low abundance and frequency in the plots. Sampling was conducted using an adapted cover pin frame approach (Dias et al 2005;Garbin et al 2012): at every 0.5 m interval of the plot, a thin stick (0.8 cm diameter) was positioned vertically, and the identity and the number of times each life form touched the stick was recorded up to a height of 1.5 m. The nine pin assessments were pooled to obtain a measure of life form abundance (number of times each life form touched the stick).…”

Section: Sampling and Image Acquisitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

“…According to the mass ratio hypothesis, dominant species are expected to drive ecosystem processes within the plant community (Grime, 1998). However, recent studies showed also that subordinate species are responsible for important ecosystem processes in grasslands (Mariotte et al, 2013) and maintain diversity in tropical communities (Garbin et al 2014(Garbin et al , 2012. Both species-groups seem functionally important in the plant community but the mechanism generating their relative abundance is still unclear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Garbin

Guidoni‐Martins

Hollunder

et al. 2016

Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Subordinate species composition and distribution are regarded as a result of the dominant species structure. However, the spatial organization of subordinate species can also be related to dispersal abilities and interactions (competition and facilitation) within subordinate species.Here, we tested the influence of dominant species on subordinate species and examined traits of subordinate species together with their spatial patterns within a tropical coastal plant community. We hypothesized that the identity of dominant species determines subordinate abundance, and dispersal and persistence trait values variation, within coexisting subordinate species. Moreover, we expected that functionally similar subordinate species aggregate in space, regarding these values. We used the relative abundance of shrubs and trees from 83 vegetation patches in 2 hectares of Restinga vegetation in southeastern Brazil. We determined trait value dissimilarities between dominant and subordinate species and within subordinates, and tested for the effect of the dominant species on subordinate abundance and trait values variation. Spatial cross-correlation functions were estimated for the four most abundant subordinate species with spline and Moran"s I cross-correlograms. Our results showed that dominant and subordinate species exhibit contrasted trait values for dispersal and persistence.However, the composition of subordinate species in patches and the variation in their functional traits were not controlled by the identity of dominant species. Surprisingly, subordinate species segregated in space. Spatial segregation was related to dissimilar trait values within subordinates. However, the identity of dominants and patch size had no control over subordinates" abundance. We suggest that such spatial segregation can result from competitive interactions. Dissimilar functional trait values within subordinate species seem to explain the spatial segregation of these species, principally led by differences in seed production and potential allelopathic interactions (e.g. Myrtaceae species). Therefore, independently of the identity of dominant species, subordinate species have a direct effect on the community composition of the Restinga vegetation. Together, our findings considerably increase knowledge on subordinate species in tropical plant communities and provide new insight into the potential role of subordinate species in community assembly.

show abstract

Subordinate, not dominant, woody species promote the diversity of climbing plants

Cited by 31 publications

References 50 publications

Phylogenetic and functional structure of climbing plant assemblages in woody patches advancing over Campos grassland

Phylogenetic and functional structure of climbing plant assemblages in woody patches advancing over Campos grassland

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

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

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About