Disentangling regional and local tree diversity in the Amazon

Juliana Stropp (1) , Hans ter Steege (1) , Yadvinder Malhi (2) , Atdn Amazon Tree Diversity Network (3) , Amazon Forest Inventory Network Rainfor

1 Institute of Environmental Biology, Section Plant Ecology and Biodiversity,
2 Centre for the Environment,
3 UMR AMAP - Botanique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations

We analyzed the most extensive data set of tree inventory plots spread over the complete Amazon basin and Guiana shield. We aimed to separate the regional and local tree alpha-diversity to investigate the drivers of diversity at the relevant scale. Our results are consistent with the partitioning of total tree alpha-diversity into regional and local components, which are controlled by evolutionary- and ecological processes, respectively. Regional diversity is correlated with palaeo-climatic stability (31%), and long-term large-scale ecosystem dynamics (14%), as represented by the age of the geological formation. Both mechanisms contribute to high diversity in the central to western Amazon. Actual rainfall seasonality is correlated with regional tree diversity to a certain extent (19%), but we argue that this is of little consequence for the evolutionary drivers of the regional species pool. Frequency of disturbance is the main process driving local diversity, although its explanatory power is relatively small (17%)

Mots clés: TROPICAL RAIN-FORESTS; POSTGLACIAL DISPERSAL LIMITATION; SPECIES RICHNESS; PLANT DIVERSITY; FLORISTIC COMPOSITION; LATITUDINAL GRADIENT; NEOTROPICAL TREE; SCALE PATTERNS; WOOD DENSITY; CLIMATE

Domaines: Biodiversité et Ecologie

Juliana Stropp, Hans ter Steege, Yadvinder Malhi, Atdn Amazon Tree Diversity Network, Amazon Forest Inventory Network Rainfor. Disentangling regional and local tree diversity in the Amazon. Ecography, 2009, 32 (1), pp.46-54. ⟨10.1111/j.1600-0587.2009.05811.x⟩. ⟨halsde-00419767⟩