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The relationship of meteorological patterns with changes in floristic richness along a large elevational gradient in a seasonally dry region of southern Mexico

International Journal of Biometeorology volume 59, pages 1861–1874 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Globally, climate is a fundamental driver of plant species’ geographical distributions, yet we still lack a good understanding of climatic variation on tropical mountains and its consequences for elevational floristic patterns. In a seasonally dry region of southern Mexico, we analysed meteorological patterns along a large elevational gradient (0–3670 m a.s.l.) and examined their relationship with changes in floristic richness. Meteorological patterns were characterised using two data sources. First, climatic information was extracted from cartography and records from a few existing meteorological stations. Additionally, air temperature and humidity were recorded hourly during 1 year with data loggers, at sites representing 200-m elevation increments. Floristic information was extracted from a database containing 10,124 records of plant collections, and organized in 200-m elevational belts. Climatic charts distinguished three climate types along the gradient, all with marked rainfall seasonality, but these bore little correspondence with the information obtained with the data loggers. Mean annual air temperature decreased with increasing elevation (lapse rate of 0.542 °C 100 m−1). Thermal oscillation was minimum around 1400 m and increased towards both extremes of the gradient. Relative humidity opposed this pattern, with maxima between 800 and 1800 m, decreasing towards the highest elevations. An analysis of temperature frequency distributions revealed meteorological features undetectable from the annual or monthly means of this variable; despite an overall gradual transition of the proportions of time recorded at different temperatures, some changes did not conform to this pattern. The first discontinuity occurred between 1000–1200 m, where dominant temperatures shifted abruptly; also noticeable was an abrupt increase of the proportion of time elapsed at 0.1–10 °C between 2400 and 2600 m. Air temperature appears to be the most influential climatic factor driving elevational variation of plant species richness in this region.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the field team and Emily J. Lott and Fernando Chiang who help us in taxonomic determination of our vouchers. Jonathan Solórzano, Edgar J. González and Marco A. Romero provided assistance in model fitting and figure preparation, respectively. The comments of four anonymous reviewers strongly enhanced earlier versions of this manuscript. The senior author is grateful to the Graduate Program in Biological Sciences of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) for a doctoral scholarship. Funding was awarded by the Society for the Study of the Biotic Resources of Oaxaca A.C. and CONACYT (grant CB-2009-01-128136).

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Affiliations

  1. Sociedad para el Estudio de los Recursos Bióticos de Oaxaca, A.C., Camino Nacional No. 80-b, San Sebastián Tutla, Oaxaca, 71246, Mexico

    Silvia H. Salas-Morales

  2. Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, 04510, DF, Mexico

    Silvia H. Salas-Morales & Jorge A. Meave

  3. Departamento de Geografía Física, Instituto de Geografía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, 04510, DF, Mexico

    Irma Trejo

Authors
  1. Silvia H. Salas-Morales
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  2. Jorge A. Meave
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  3. Irma Trejo
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Correspondence to Jorge A. Meave.

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Salas-Morales, S.H., Meave, J.A. & Trejo, I. The relationship of meteorological patterns with changes in floristic richness along a large elevational gradient in a seasonally dry region of southern Mexico. Int J Biometeorol 59, 1861–1874 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-015-0993-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-015-0993-y

Keywords

  • Air humidity
  • Air temperature
  • Critical temperature
  • Floristic richness
  • Floristic composition
  • Hourly climatic analysis
  • Thermal oscillation