Memorias de investigación
Artículos en revistas:
Negative density dependence and environmental heterogeneity effects on tree ferns across succession in a tropical montane forest.
Año:2014
Áreas de investigación
  • Botánica,
  • Ecología
Datos
Descripción
Although tree ferns are an important component of temperate and tropical forests, very little is known about their ecology. Their peculiar biology (e.g., dispersal by spores and two-phase life cycle) makes it difficult to extrapolate current knowledge on the ecology of other tree species to tree ferns. In this paper, we studied the effects of negative density dependence (NDD) and environmental heterogeneity on populations of two abundant tree fern species, Cyathea caracasana and Alsophila engelii, and how these effects change across a successional gradient. Species patterns harbor information on processes such as competition that can be easily revealed using point pattern analysis techniques. However, its detection may be difficult due to the confounded effects of habitat heterogeneity. Here, we mapped three forest plots along a successional gradient in the montane forests of Southern Ecuador. We employed homogeneous and inhomogeneous K and pair correlation functions to quantify the change in the spatial pattern of different size classes and a case-control design to study associations between juvenile and adult tree ferns. Using spatial estimates of the biomass of four functional tree types (short- and long-lived pioneer, shade- and partial shade-tolerant) as covariates, we fitted heterogeneous Poisson models to the point pattern of juvenile and adult tree ferns and explored the existence of habitat dependencies on these patterns. Our study revealed NDD effects for C. caracasana and strong environmental filtering underlying the pattern of A. engelii. We found that adult and juvenile populations of both species responded differently to habitat heterogeneity and in most cases this heterogeneity was associated with the spatial distribution of biomass of the four functional tree types. These findings show the effectiveness of factoring out environmental heterogeneity to avoid confounding factors when studying NDD and demonstrate the usefulness of covariate maps derived from mapped communities.
Internacional
Si
JCR del ISI
Si
Título de la revista
Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution And Systematics
ISSN
1433-8319
Factor de impacto JCR
3,324
Información de impacto
Datos JCR del año 2013
Volumen
16
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2014.02.003
Número de revista
Desde la página
52
Hasta la página
63
Mes
SIN MES
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Participantes
  • Autor: Julia Chacón-Labella UNiversidad Rey Juan Carlos
  • Autor: Marcelino de la Cruz Rot UPM
  • Autor: Rafael Vicuña Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja
  • Autor: Karla Tapia Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja
  • Autor: Adrián Escudero Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Grupos de investigación, Departamentos, Centros e Institutos de I+D+i relacionados
  • Creador: Grupo de Investigación: Biodiversidad y conservación de recursos fitogenéticos
  • Departamento: Biotecnología - Biología Vegetal