The environmental filtering and the conservation of tropical dry forests in mountains in a global change scenario

Structures of tropical dry forests in the Andes: forest conservation, composition and the role of fabaceae and myrtaceae

“…Other works in TDFs have shown the dominance of other species of the genus Machaerium in Colombia, such as in the Magdalena river valley and in the Caribbean region (Mendoza-C, 1999;Romero-Duque et al, 2019). Platymiscium pinnatum, was the second most important species in the VI general, and was very common in localities located at lower altitudes and more severe environments (Galván-Cisneros et al, 2021). This species is also prominent in the Neguanje TDF, within the Tayrona National Natural Park in the Colombian Caribbean, a zone with stressing bioclimatic characteristics similar to the areas where the species was recorded in our study (Carbonó-Delahoz; García-Q, 2010).…”

“…However, it is very likely that several other species will be threatened in the near future due to climate changes in fragmented landscapes that make connectivity difficult. (Galván-Cisneros et al, 2021;IPCC, 2021) because most species sampled has a low number of individuals and a small basal area. It is possible that a significant number of species will be at risk of extinction in the near future, which shows a clear need to protect these forests through public policies.…”

“…As a general trend, a greater number of species was found in locations at higher altitudes, decreasing in locations at lower altitudes and where climatic seasonality is more marked and filters out species from lineages that are less tolerant to stressful environments (Galván-Cisneros et al, 2021). The species richness of these TDFs in lower altitude is small, which contrasts with the species richness of humid tropical forests in low altitude (Janzen, 1988;Van Bloem et al, 2004).…”

“…Floristic and phytosociological surveys in the Neotropics have generated, over more than 40 years, an extensive database that today allows us to understand how landscape, climate, altitude, soils and history affect phytogeography, diversity, evolution and ecology, from populations and communities to entire biomes (e.g., Bueno et al, 2016;Gastauer et al, 2015;Lima et al, 2020;Neves et al, 2020;Fontes, 2000). Tropical Dry Forests (TDFs) have less than 1000 mm of rainfall in tropical and equatorial latitudes (see Oliveira-Filho et al 2015) and are less studied by floristic and phytosociological studies than other large biomes with woody vegetation (Andrade et al, 2011), but the absence of this type of study is especially worrying with the climate change predicted for the coming decades (IPCC, 2021) in mountains such as the Andes where isolated fragments of TDFs will have their climates altered in heavily anthropized landscapes (Galván-Cisneros et al, 2021).…”

“…The original distribution of TDFs in Colombia covered regions of the Caribbean plain and the Andean slopes and valleys (IAvH, 1998) with some small enclaves (IAvH, 1998;González-M et al, 2018;Pizano & García, 2014). The Colombian North-Andean TDF region is formed by three nuclei: the Chicamocha river canyon, in the province of Santander Fernández-Alonso, 2006), the Ocaña-Convencion nucleus (IAvH, 1998), and the nucleus of Cúcuta and its surroundings, in the province of Norte de Santander (Galván-Cisneros et al, 2021;Hernández et al, 1992). The Cúcuta nucleus forms a continuum with the dry enclave of Tachira in Venezuela (Hernández et al, 1992).…”