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Draper FC, Asner GP, Honorio Coronado EN, Baker TR, García-Villacorta R, Pitman NCA, Fine PVA, Phillips OL, Zárate Gómez R, Amasifuén Guerra CA, Flores Arévalo M, Vásquez Martínez R, Brienen RJW, Monteagudo-Mendoza A, Torres Montenegro LA, Valderrama Sandoval E, Roucoux KH, Ramírez Arévalo FR, Mesones Acuy Í, Del Aguila Pasquel J, Tagle Casapia X, Flores Llampazo G, Corrales Medina M, Reyna Huaymacari J, Baraloto C. Dominant tree species drive beta diversity patterns in western Amazonia. Ecology 2019; 100:e02636. [PMID: 30693479 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2018] [Revised: 12/11/2018] [Accepted: 12/20/2018] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
The forests of western Amazonia are among the most diverse tree communities on Earth, yet this exceptional diversity is distributed highly unevenly within and among communities. In particular, a small number of dominant species account for the majority of individuals, whereas the large majority of species are locally and regionally extremely scarce. By definition, dominant species contribute little to local species richness (alpha diversity), yet the importance of dominant species in structuring patterns of spatial floristic turnover (beta diversity) has not been investigated. Here, using a network of 207 forest inventory plots, we explore the role of dominant species in determining regional patterns of beta diversity (community-level floristic turnover and distance-decay relationships) across a range of habitat types in northern lowland Peru. Of the 2,031 recorded species in our data set, only 99 of them accounted for 50% of individuals. Using these 99 species, it was possible to reconstruct the overall features of regional beta diversity patterns, including the location and dispersion of habitat types in multivariate space, and distance-decay relationships. In fact, our analysis demonstrated that regional patterns of beta diversity were better maintained by the 99 dominant species than by the 1,932 others, whether quantified using species-abundance data or species presence-absence data. Our results reveal that dominant species are normally common only in a single forest type. Therefore, dominant species play a key role in structuring western Amazonian tree communities, which in turn has important implications, both practically for designing effective protected areas, and more generally for understanding the determinants of beta diversity patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederick C Draper
- Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science, Arizona State University, 975 S. Myrtle Ave Tempe, Arizona, 85281, USA.,Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, California, 94305, USA.,International Center for Tropical Botany, Florida International University, 4013 South Douglas Road, Miami, Florida, 33133, USA
| | - Gregory P Asner
- Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science, Arizona State University, 975 S. Myrtle Ave Tempe, Arizona, 85281, USA.,Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, California, 94305, USA
| | | | - Timothy R Baker
- School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
| | - Roosevelt García-Villacorta
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, E145 Corson Hall, Ithaca, New york, 14853, USA
| | - Nigel C A Pitman
- Keller Science Action Center, The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, Illinois, 60605, USA
| | - Paul V A Fine
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, 1005 Valley Life Sciences Building #3140 Berkeley, California, 94720, USA
| | - Oliver L Phillips
- School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
| | - Ricardo Zárate Gómez
- Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana, Av. Quiñones 0784, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru
| | - Carlos A Amasifuén Guerra
- Facultad de Biología, Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana, Sargento Lores 385, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru
| | - Manuel Flores Arévalo
- Facultad de Biología, Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana, Sargento Lores 385, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru
| | | | - Roel J W Brienen
- School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
| | - Abel Monteagudo-Mendoza
- Jardín Botanico de Missouri, Prolongación Bolognesi Lote 6, Oxapampa, Pasco, Peru.,Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco, Av. de La Cultura 773, Cusco, 08000, Peru
| | - Luis A Torres Montenegro
- Facultad de Biología, Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana, Sargento Lores 385, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru
| | - Elvis Valderrama Sandoval
- Facultad de Biología, Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana, Sargento Lores 385, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru
| | - Katherine H Roucoux
- School of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St. Andrews, North Street, St. Andrews, KY16 9AL, United Kingdom
| | - Fredy R Ramírez Arévalo
- Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana, Sargento Lores 385, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru
| | - Ítalo Mesones Acuy
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, 1005 Valley Life Sciences Building #3140 Berkeley, California, 94720, USA
| | - Jhon Del Aguila Pasquel
- Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana, Av. Quiñones 0784, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru.,School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, Michigan, 49931, USA
| | - Ximena Tagle Casapia
- Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana, Av. Quiñones 0784, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru
| | | | | | - José Reyna Huaymacari
- Facultad de Biología, Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana, Sargento Lores 385, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru
| | - Christopher Baraloto
- International Center for Tropical Botany, Florida International University, 4013 South Douglas Road, Miami, Florida, 33133, USA
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Baker TR, Phillips OL, Malhi Y, Almeida S, Arroyo L, Di Fiore A, Erwin T, Higuchi N, Killeen TJ, Laurance SG, Laurance WF, Lewis SL, Monteagudo A, Neill DA, Vargas PN, Pitman NCA, Silva JNM, Martínez RV. Increasing biomass in Amazonian forest plots. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2004; 359:353-65. [PMID: 15212090 PMCID: PMC1693327 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2003.1422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 147] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
A previous study by Phillips et al. of changes in the biomass of permanent sample plots in Amazonian forests was used to infer the presence of a regional carbon sink. However, these results generated a vigorous debate about sampling and methodological issues. Therefore we present a new analysis of biomass change in old-growth Amazonian forest plots using updated inventory data. We find that across 59 sites, the above-ground dry biomass in trees that are more than 10 cm in diameter (AGB) has increased since plot establishment by 1.22 +/- 0.43 Mg per hectare per year (ha(-1) yr(-1), where 1 ha = 10(4) m2), or 0.98 +/- 0.38 Mg ha(-1) yr(-1) if individual plot values are weighted by the number of hectare years of monitoring. This significant increase is neither confounded by spatial or temporal variation in wood specific gravity, nor dependent on the allometric equation used to estimate AGB. The conclusion is also robust to uncertainty about diameter measurements for problematic trees: for 34 plots in western Amazon forests a significant increase in AGB is found even with a conservative assumption of zero growth for all trees where diameter measurements were made using optical methods and/or growth rates needed to be estimated following fieldwork. Overall, our results suggest a slightly greater rate of net stand-level change than was reported by Phillips et al. Considering the spatial and temporal scale of sampling and associated studies showing increases in forest growth and stem turnover, the results presented here suggest that the total biomass of these plots has on average increased and that there has been a regional-scale carbon sink in old-growth Amazonian forests during the previous two decades.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy R Baker
- Max-Planck-Institut für Biogeochemie, Postfach 10 01 64, D-07701 Jena, Germany.
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