A critical evaluation of the floristic links between Chaco and Caatingas vegetation in South America

The present study critically evaluates the alleged close floristic links between Chaco and Caatingas vegetation in South America. A reassessment of the phytogeography of these areas has been made by (a) comparing species lists in virtually all of the available literature, and (b) plotting dot-map distributions of relevant taxa based on the author's own herbarium studies and recent monographs. The environmental factors, geology and geomorphology, climate and soils of both areas were also analyzed to assess their degree of internal coherence. The prevailing concept of the Chaco itself proved to be a broad geographical entity rather than a well-defined geobotanic unit in vegetational terms, and a redefinition of the Chaco sensu stricto and a new map of the province has been proposed. Several forest communities have been excluded from the Chaco s.s. since their floristic composition clearly link them to other neighbouring provinces. Although the Caatingas province vegetation is not so well known, the area appears to be a consistent natural region, and a new vegetation type has been briefly described. Detailed floristic lists of the main woody and succulent species of the Chaco s.s., the Caatingas and the Subandean Piedmont Forests are presented, which provide the basis for a subsequent phytosociological analyses (classical and numerical approaches) of these vegetation units vis-a-vis the rest of the seasonal forests and woodlands of South America. The results suggest that the alleged affinities Chaco-Caatingas are very feeble indeed, particularly when they are compared to the actual links between the Caatingas and other seasonal communities in the continent: the Guajira province in N Colombia and Venezuela, the dry forests of W Ecuador, and very particularly the Subandean Piedmont Forests in NW Argentina and SW Bolivia. Some basic patterns of distribution of the floristic elements of seasonal forests in South America have been identified and found to form coherent trends in a series of accurate dot maps: a) Chaco endemics; b) Caatingas endemics; c) Neotropical seasonal forests pattern, including c.1- Residual Pleistocenic Seasonal Formations Arc (or 'Pleistocenic Arc'), extending from the Caatingas through some Planalto forests and calcium-rich localities in the Cerrados, SW Mato Grosso do Sul and the Santiago and Chiquitos Sierras, to the Parana-Paraguay river system and the Subandean Piedmont Forests; c.2- Tropical and Subtropical Seasonal Forests in South America; and c.3- Amphitropical Seasonal Forests pattern. The zoological evidence regarded until present as further proof of the Chaco-Caatingas links is also analysed and mapped, and the results are sharply coincidental with those found for plant distribution. An attempt has also been made to interpret the origin of the Caatingas flora; a hypothetical framework of probable ancient connections across South America between present-day seasonal woody communities is postulated, which have been interpreted here as migratory routes during the wet-dry climatic fluctuations of the late Pleistocene (18-12 ka BP). It is therefore concluded that the floristic links between the Chaco and the Caatingas are very weak and negligible when compared to other relationships, such as those between Chaco-Monte or Caatingas-Subandean Piedmont Forests. It is proposed that the Caatingas should be removed from the Chaquenian Dominium and placed in the Amazonian Dominium, with which they show much stronger affinities

Chapter 8 - Tropics

Explore the contents of Bryophyte Ecology, Volume 4, Chapter 8 - Tropics by clicking the links above. For the Contents section of this ebook, as well as Volumes 1 through 5, please visit the Bryophyte Ecology Main Page. Use CTRL+F to easily search within PDF files. Ebook sponsored by Michigan Technological University and the International Association of Bryologists.https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/bryophyte-ecology4/1001/thumbnail.jp

Volume 4, Chapter 8-4: Tropics: Epiphyte Ecology, Part 2

https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/bryo-ecol-subchapters/1207/thumbnail.jp

Endemic Species

This book consists of several thematic groups, including botany, zoology and topics related to human health. In regards to botany, chapters discuss endemic plants of Bolivia, Mexico, Italy and the Caribbean. They show the diversity, distribution and conservation of many species. In regards to zoology, the book highlights endemic primates and reptiles. Additionally, the book presents other environmental issues relevant to conservation. This volume also presents topics related to health, some of which are relevant for their implications on health and the economy, is the case of the presence of toxins in the Pacific plankton.All chapters present relevant content for future research or because they are fundamental for territorial management

Biodiversity and phytogeography of Bolivia\u27s wetland flora

The composition, diversity, and phytogeographic affinities of the vascular flora of Bolivia\u27s wetlands were examined and compared with wetland floras from the other Neotropical countries and the New World Temperate region. Forty-six wetlands distributed throughout Bolivia and ranging in elevation from 90 in to \u3e4400 m were established as study sites. Regional and national wetland floras were compiled from field research, the literature, herbarium specimens, and available databases. Two thousand and sixty species in 149 families and 666 genera were identified as associated with wetlands in Mesoamerica and tropical and subtropical South America. Of these, 1026 species in 126 families and 450 genera were noted for Bolivian wetlands. When considered both in terms of number of species per system and in comparisons of species-area curves, Bolivia\u27s wetlands were found to be less diverse than wetlands of the New World Temperate region. At the macroregional level, both South and Central America were less diverse than the New World Temperate region. Thus, at both the system and regional scales, it appeared that phytodiversity in New World wetlands constituted an exception to the widely recognized latitudinal gradient in species richness. Additionally, phytodiversity in Neotropical wetlands was generally not well-correlated with diversity in terrestrial habitats. A large portion of the Neotropical wetland species possessed very broad ranges, and few endemic species were noted relative to the Neotropical terrestrial habitats. Similarity Indices were generally unsatisfactory for analyzing floristic similarities at the system level. Both Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and Frequency Analysis produced more satisfactory results. Species that typically tended towards dominance in Bolivian wetlands most often were extremely widely distributed, precluding the identification of regional wetland associations based on dominant species. Nevertheless, ordination of the study sites by DCA generally grouped wetlands from within the same Bolivian region. At the macroregional level, an ordination by DCA ordered the countries of the Neotropics into three groups: (1) Bolivia, Brazil and Peru; (2) Colombia, The Guianas, and Venezuela; and, (3) all Central American countries. Two countries, Mexico and Ecuador, were not clearly associated with any group

Living in a global world: ethnobotany, local knowledge and sustainability. 58th Annual Meeting of the Society for Economic Botany: book of abstracts

It gives us great pleasure to welcome you to the 58th Annual Meeting of the Society for Economic Botany (SEB) and the 2nd Hispano-Portuguese Meeting on Ethnobiology (II EHPE), a joint event aiming at connecting economic botanists and ethnobiologists from all over the world. The Society for Economic Botany (SEB) was established in 1959 and the annual meeting brings together people interested in the past, present, and future uses of plants, and the relationship between plants and human societies. SEB fosters and encourages scientific research and education in the transdisciplinary field of economic botany. With members from across the U.S.A. and more than 64 countries around the globe, SEB serves as the world’s largest and most-respected professional society for individuals who are concerned with basic botanical, as well as, with agronomical, anthropological, phytochemical, ethnological and many others studies of plants known to be useful or those which may have potential uses so far undeveloped. Since 1960, SEB Annual Meetings provide a stimulating milieu for scientific exchange amongst SEB members and researchers from different countries and regions. The Hispano-Portuguese Meeting on Ethnobiology (EHPE) highlights previous collaborations between Hispano-Portuguese ethnobiologists and aims to involve the global Hispanic-Portuguese-speaking communities to the greatest extent possible. Albacete, Castilla La Mancha, Spain, hosted the I EHPE in 2010, simultaneously with the 11th Congress of the International Society of Ethnopharmacology (ISE 2010). In Albacete, about 80 Hispano-Portuguese speakers with diverse backgrounds and interest, researching in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia, presented their works and discussed wider importance of Ethnobiological research. Six years later, we promote a second meeting (II EHPE) aiming at updating and strengthening networks between different research groups, experts, students and any people interested in interdisciplinary ethno biological approaches. In 2017, the 58th SEB Annual Meeting and the 2nd Hispano-Portuguese Meeting on Ethnobiology are held in the city of Bragança, Portugal within an ecological and culturally fascinating environment, organized by the Mountain Research Centre (CIMO) of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB) and the Society for Economic Botany (SEB) with the active involvement of local, national and international entities. Several institutions sponsored a comprehensive programme: the William L. Brown Center (USA), Springer Nature (UK), Regional Northern Culture Directorate (DRCN, Portugal), Bragança Municipality (CMB, Portugal), Centro Ciencia Viva de Bragança (Portugal) and Fundação Caixa CA, Bragança (Portugal). The conference theme Living in a global world: ethnobotany, local knowledge and sustainability gathered 230 delegates from 41 countries of Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. A total of 230 abstracts were submitted: 12 plenary lectures and special addresses, 152 papers and 66 posters. Bringing together the European community and a broader international community of scientists and stakeholders, this joint event creates a unique opportunity for individuals and institutions to share experiences and to establish information and collaboration networks, taking advantage of a multicultural, friendly and pleasant environment. Thank you for your contributions and support! We are very grateful to those who helped and contributed to achieve this event.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Checklist and distribution of climber species across neotropical vegetation domains

Orientadores: Fernando Roberto Martins, Robyn Jeanette BurnhamTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de BiologiaResumo: As trepadeiras representam um importante componente ecológico dos ambientes naturais. Estudos recentes apontaram o incremento da sua abundância e biomassa em florestas tropicais, sob influência da ação antrópica e das mudanças climáticas. Portanto, as trepadeiras são elementos-chave em pesquisas relacionadas a manejo e sustentabilidade de ecossistemas num mundo em intensa transformação. Com o aumento dos estudos sobre este hábito, surgiu a oportunidade de elaborar um banco de dados com o objetivo de reunir os estudos qualitativos e quantitativos já feitos sobre trepadeiras, avaliar o nível do conhecimento já adquirido, as lacunas de informação e agregar um conjunto de dados que possibilite informações de referência a outros pesquisadores. Por meio de um checklist das espécies de trepadeiras citadas em listagens de estudos publicados em periódicos científicos, esta tese representa a primeira iniciativa de compilar dados acerca de trepadeiras não só de vegetações florestais, mas também de fisionomias abertas e savânicas. Tivemos vários intuitos, sendo um deles incluir na análise um componente muito importante da ecologia do grupo: sua plasticidade fenotípica e sua distribuição geográfica. Observamos que a Floresta Atlântica ou Domínio do Paraná de Morrone foi a região do Neotrópico de maior riqueza e que fisionomias abertas possuíram a maior variação de hábitos de vida dentre as espécies reconhecidas como trepadeiras. Descobrimos que gradientes condicionados à temperatura e sazonalidade da precipitação estão atrelados à distribuição das espécies no domínio do Paraná, reconhecido como o centro de origem de várias linhagens de espécies de trepadeiras. Esta lista com a riqueza estimada em muitas porções do Neotrópico abre caminho, portanto, para análises posteriores sobre a influência do clima atual e projetado na distribuição das espécies e contribui para o estudo de formas de manejo de lianas hiperabundantes em florestas perturbadasAbstract: Climbing plants represent an important ecological component of natural environments. Recently, studies have appointed an increase in their abundance and biomass in tropical forests, influenced by anthropic action and climate change effects. Therefore, climbers are a key element on researches related to management and ecosystem sustainability in a world under profound transformation. With the increase of studies regarding this habit, the opportunity arised to elaborate a database aiming to gather qualitative and quantitative studies, to assess how much is known about climbing plants, to identify information gaps, and to systematize a dataset providing information to other researchers. Through a checklist of climbing species cited in papers published in scientific journals, the present thesis represents the first initiative to compile the data regarding the climbing plants not only in closed forest vegetation but also in open and savanna physiognomies. We intented to include in our analyses a component that, although despised, is relevant to the ecology of this group: phenotypic plasticity and its geographic distribution. We found that the Atlantic Forest or Morrone¿s Paraná Domain is the Neotropic region with the highest richness of climbing plants and that open physiognomies had the highest number of species with life form variations among the climbers. We also found that temperature and rainfall seasonality gradients drive climber species distribution in the Paraná domain, which is recognized as the center of origin of many climber lineages. Our list with the estimated richness in different portions of Neotropic enables new analyses of the influence of the current and prospected climate on species distribution and the study of management strategies of hyperabundant lianas in disturbed forestsDoutoradoBiologia VegetalDoutor em Biologia Vegetal140820/2013-2CNP

Patterns of tree species composition and richness across the principal biomes of lowland tropical South America and their underlying environmental drivers

Lowland tropical South America encompasses some of the most species-rich and threatened ecosystems in the world, spanning across countries such as Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, which are known for their biodiversity. However, due to its incredible environmental and ecological complexity and that most of its area has yet to be scientifically studied in any depth, controversy surrounds its biomes’ identities, the limits of their geographic and environmental distributions and estimates of their tree species richness. The main objective of this thesis is to study the phytogeography of lowland Tropical South America by delimiting its biomes through a floristic approach, by investigating these biomes’ environmental controls and dynamics and by assessing their tree species richness and endemism. In order to fulfil this objective, we have employed a dataset of thoroughly checked tree species checklists, the NeoTropTree (NTT) dataset, which covers more than 8000 locations across South, Central and southern North America and encompasses occurrence records for more than 12000 tree species. Firstly, I defined and mapped the main biomes in lowland tropical South America (LTSA) through the means of a hierarchical clustering analysis based on tree species composition associated with an a priori classification of 4103 NTT sites into vegetation types. I then proceeded to map these biomes geographically and to assess their environmental overlaps (both climatic and edaphic) through a classification tree approach (random forest analysis). I was able to delimit five main biomes in LTSA: Amazon Forest, Atlantic Forest, Chaco, Savanna and Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest (SDTF). I also show that there is an important environmental overlap amongst biomes. Error rates for site classification into biome using solely environmental data ranged from 19-21% when only climate was considered and 16-18% when I also took edaphic variables into account. I conclude that it is viable and advisable to use tree species composition to determine biome identity, at least within individual continents. In the case of LTSA, there is high biome heterogeneity at small spatial scales, which explains why it is so challenging to use climatic and/or interpolation based edaphic data, or remotely-sensed imagery, to map tropical biomes. Because of this, I then conclude that biome delimitation using floristic information may enable more efficient biome conservation and management efforts. Secondly, I investigated the environmental controls distinguishing biome limits for two regions of LTSA with high biome heterogeneity – eastern Brazil and Bolivia. To this end, I selected 182 NTT sites in these two regions, collected detailed soil data from the field and extracted climate and fire data from publicly available GIS data layers. I assigned these sites to one of three states based on their tree species composition: moist forest (including both Atlantic and Amazon Forests), SDTF or savanna. Selected environmental variables were organized into three distinct categories describing functional environmental regime: water availability, soil fertility and fire, and their significance as predictors of biome identity was assessed within a structural equation modelling framework. I found that environmental controls behind biome distribution differ between the two studied areas and according to the biomes involved. I concluded that water availability, soil fertility and fire are all important determinants of biome limits. Amongst the three categories, water availability was the most important one in determining biome identity at our study sites, with soil fertility differentiating eastern Brazil SDTFs from the other biomes, and fire representing an important determinant of savanna’s environmental limits. Thirdly, I estimated and compared tree species richness and endemism levels of LTSA’s main biomes using NTT’s tree species checklists and incidence (i.e., occurrence) data. To do so, I extracted tree species information for 4540 sites registered in NeoTropTree distributed across four biomes: Amazon Forest, Atlantic Forest, Savanna and SDTF. I first compared how tree species accumulated with number of sites sampled for biomes and then estimated biomes’ total tree species richness using non-parametric approaches (species extrapolation curves). I also estimated the number of endemic tree species to these areas with two approaches: indicator species analyses and absolute unique/shared species counts. I was able to show that the Amazon Forest is the most tree species-rich environment in LTSA, followed by the Atlantic Forest, Savannas and then SDTFs. In relation to endemism levels, the Amazon and Atlantic Forests’ tree flora are mainly composed of endemic tree species whereas that is not the case for the savanna and SDTF. The estimation of total tree species richness through extrapolation curves revealed that around 94% of the tree flora of the Amazon forest, the Atlantic forest and the SDTF have already been recorded. According to the same analysis, only around 70% of the savannah tree flora has been recorded. However, this pattern might be related to the high number of biome intrusions into this biome. The differences in richness and endemism between the moist (Amazon and Antlantic forests) and drier biomes (savanna and SDTF) suggest that drought-sensitivity and biogeographic history are drivers of tree species distribution in LTSA. Finally, by integrating biome delimitation based on floristic composition with knowledge on these environments’ environmental correlates and tree species richness, I was able to describe LTSA’s main phytogeographic features in a way that has never been done before, drawing attention to its complexities and performing novel cross-biome comparisons. My study shows that LTSA’s biomes are interspersed across geographic space, especially in the Dry Diagonal located between the Amazon and Atlantic Forests, and that environmental controls driving these ecosystems’ distributions can vary according to the biomes being considered and the geographic location. I also show that LTSA’s most tree species-rich biomes are the ones with the highest quantity of endemic tree species and that taxonomic expeditions to the Amazon Forest can potentially lead to more species being described in these environments. To summarize, I was able to highlight LTSA’s main floristic patterns and link them to environmental drivers and tree species richness, thereby substantially transforming how these biomes are perceived by biodiversity scientists and conservationists

the spatial ecology off the Guina (Oncifelis guigna) in Southern Chile

This thesis describes the diet, activity, home range and habitat utilisation of guina (Oncifelis guigna) within two populations located inside regions of minimal anthropogenic disturbance in southern Chile. Fieldwork was comprised of several components: guina captured in live traps were fitted with radio collars and monitored on foot using standard radiotelemetry techniques; landcover maps were created for each study area from satellite data, aerial photography and ground truthing, and the relative abundance and diversity of potential small mammal prey were assessed by means of grid-based live-trapping studies and tree-mounted hair-traps. The behavioural data obtained from the radiotelemetry study were analysed using RANGES V to assess the area requirements of the guina and to determine how the home ranges and movements of individuals were distributed with respect to those of conspecifics. This data was also investigated with reference to the landcover maps generated for each site to identify habitat categories that were preferentially utilised or avoided by guina. The diet of this species was determined via faecal analysis. The composition of the guina diet within each site was then related to small mammal relative abundances determined in the field. Small mammals, particularly rodents represented the major component of the guina diet, and no evidence of prey selection was determined. Trapping surveys indicated both sites had abundant prey resources in the form of relatively dense rodent populations. Radiocollared guina were largely arrhythmic in their activity pattern and neighbouring individuals within both populations showed a high degree of spatial overlap, both within and between sexes. Core use areas also overlapped extensively, and no evidence was found to indicate that guina actively avoid conspecifics. These cats exhibited a consistent preference for relatively dense, thicket-forest habitat over less complexly structured vegetation, including stands of Nothofagus forest, the habitat category previously assumed to be key for this species. The results of this study are discussed within the context of conservation management for the continued survival of this endangered felid