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Flora and ecology of a neotropical savanna, Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras

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Abstract

Neotropical savannas exhibit unique patterns of diversity of plant and animal life that are poorly understood. Effective conservation of these often imperiled ecosystems requires a basic understanding of species occurrence as well as the site-specific factors that influence plant community composition. This study focuses on the savanna flora of the island of Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras. Compositional trends were assessed across multiple environmental gradients including surface hydrology, microtopography, nutrient levels and pH using Braun-Blanquet cover abundance in a stratified systematic sampling design. Non-metric multidimensional scaling and non-parametric multiplicative regression were applied to identify community types and to model species’ responses to environmental gradients. We separated habitats into three basic types: sedge meadow, Blechnum-Cladium parkland and woody hammock. Compositional gradients along ordination axes were highly correlated with depth of the water table, pH and conductivity. Disturbance history, especially time since fire, was also linked to an indirect gradient. Some species – notably Acoelorrhaphe wrightii and Chrysobalanus icaco – are generalists, and their distributions may reflect past disturbance. Microtopography was critical in determining distribution for a suite of species that occurred only on mound formations in areas subject to prolonged inundation during the rainy season. Disturbance, particularly by hurricanes and fire, may promote within-habitat diversity; for example, the exposed lignotubers and rhizomes of trees killed by saline inundation provide habitat for less flood-tolerant species in wet areas, while burned clones of A. wrightii and surrounding peat areas permit colonization by many herbaceous species. Pair-wise floristic comparisons between Utila and eight other neotropical savannas revealed fewer than half of the 40 savanna species found on Utila were present in any other site. Two species of Cyperaceae, Fuirena scirpoidea and Rhynchospora tracyi, are new records for Honduras.

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Acknowledgements

Pamela Ortega and Patricia Steffan, at BICA, and Angela Randazzo, Helder Perez, and Andrea Martínez at the Iguana Station provided the inspiration and primary logistical support for this project. We are especially indebted to Dr. Paul House, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, for help in identifying plant specimens and sharing his knowledge of the Utila flora. For help in the field or other expertise we thank Romina Peña, Daniela Martínez, Stephanie Thornton, Nardiah Belal, Gerritt Davidse, Bruce Holst, Yanina Guerrero, Daniel Santamaria, German Carnevali, Robbin Moran, Benjamin van Ee, William Montero, Alec Lindsay, Lynn Roovers and Seth Kauppinen. Financial assistance at Northern Michigan University was provided by Patrick Brown, Terry Seethoff, and Michael Broadway, the Spooner Foundation and Merry Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Department, Northern Michigan University, 1401 Presque Isle Avenue, Marquette, MI, 49855, USA

    Susan Fawcett, Tyler Phillips, Mac Strand & Alan Rebertus

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  1. Susan Fawcett
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  2. Tyler Phillips
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Correspondence to Susan Fawcett.

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Fig. S1

Google Earth imagery showing the three habitat types. (PNG 587 kb)

Fig. S2

Damage to mangrove forests from Hurricane Mitch on Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras: a – aerial photo taken March 2009 © BICA Utila; b – photo taken May 2011 by Susan Fawcett. (JPG 194 kb)

Fig. S2b

(JPG 173 kb)

Table S1

(DOC 32.5 kb)

Table S2

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ESM 1

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Fawcett, S., Phillips, T., Strand, M. et al. Flora and ecology of a neotropical savanna, Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras. Folia Geobot 51, 77–91 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-016-9245-0

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