Tropical mountain ranges shape the structure of tree communities and promote highly diverse natural habitats.The“Bosque Protector Chong on-Colonche”(BPCC),an 86,000-ha mountain formation situated on the coast of Ecu...Tropical mountain ranges shape the structure of tree communities and promote highly diverse natural habitats.The“Bosque Protector Chong on-Colonche”(BPCC),an 86,000-ha mountain formation situated on the coast of Ecuador,is biogeographically important for the region by connecting floristic elements of the wet Choco and the dry Tumbesian forests.Our understanding of the factors that model tree and palm diversity and distribution in this mountain range are limited.We measured and identified all trees and palms(DBH≥10 cm)in 289 plots of0.2 ha,distributed throughout BPCC.We used generalized linear models to explain the relationship between forest diversity and structure and climatic variables(temperature,rain,aridity),and altitude.We then used cluster and non-metric multidimensional scale(NMDS)analyses to search for distinct forest communities within the BPCC.Variance partition(varpart)was used to determine which predictor variables best explained these distinct forest communities.A species indicator analysis identified the species most likely to define these distinct forest communities.Finally,we carried out a niche modeling approach to identify the potential distribution of these forest communities within BPCC.In total,we identified 220 tree and palm species in our survey.The average number of species per plot was 17.8±5.8,ranging from 3 to 40 species.Classification methods sorted the 289study plots into six different forest communities,three communities in the dry forest and three in the semi-humid Garúa forest.Precipitation and temperature,but not altitude or aridity,explained floristic composition.These results emphasize the high but little cataloged diversity in the lowland mountain rainforests of coastal Ecuador.展开更多
文摘Tropical mountain ranges shape the structure of tree communities and promote highly diverse natural habitats.The“Bosque Protector Chong on-Colonche”(BPCC),an 86,000-ha mountain formation situated on the coast of Ecuador,is biogeographically important for the region by connecting floristic elements of the wet Choco and the dry Tumbesian forests.Our understanding of the factors that model tree and palm diversity and distribution in this mountain range are limited.We measured and identified all trees and palms(DBH≥10 cm)in 289 plots of0.2 ha,distributed throughout BPCC.We used generalized linear models to explain the relationship between forest diversity and structure and climatic variables(temperature,rain,aridity),and altitude.We then used cluster and non-metric multidimensional scale(NMDS)analyses to search for distinct forest communities within the BPCC.Variance partition(varpart)was used to determine which predictor variables best explained these distinct forest communities.A species indicator analysis identified the species most likely to define these distinct forest communities.Finally,we carried out a niche modeling approach to identify the potential distribution of these forest communities within BPCC.In total,we identified 220 tree and palm species in our survey.The average number of species per plot was 17.8±5.8,ranging from 3 to 40 species.Classification methods sorted the 289study plots into six different forest communities,three communities in the dry forest and three in the semi-humid Garúa forest.Precipitation and temperature,but not altitude or aridity,explained floristic composition.These results emphasize the high but little cataloged diversity in the lowland mountain rainforests of coastal Ecuador.
