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Cactus species turnover and diversity along a latitudinal transect in the Chihuahuan Desert Region

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Abstract

A standardized sampling method was used to evaluate turnover (β diversity) among cactus species assemblages along a 798 km long latitudinal megatransect across the Chihuahuan Desert Region, from north-central Mexico to southern Texas. A total of 71 cactus species were found along the megatransect, 66.2% of which appeared at low frequencies, mostly as a consequence of their highly discontinuous distribution pattern. At the scale the study was conducted, there was always species turnover among cactus assemblages. The rate of turnover among contiguous sites primarily fluctuated from low to medium, but when all site combinations were considered (contiguous and non-contiguous), medium β diversity values were predominant (β = 0.331–0.66); however, 25.4% of the site pair combinations registered high values (β = 0.661–1.0). Our results showed that turnover among cactus species assemblages in the CDR does not consist for the most part of a process of species succession in the geographic space. Instead, we concluded that the continuous spatial changes in cactus species composition are primarily explained by the commonly intermittent distribution patterns of the species, by the presence in the megatransect of species at the margin of their distribution range, and, to a lesser extent, by the existence of narrowly endemic species.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Exequiel Ezcurra for constructive criticisms to the manuscript, Rolando Bárcenas for identifying some of the species of Grusonia, Raul Puente for assisting us and making the arrangements for fieldwork in the Big Bend area, and Alfredo Wong for support in the analysis of similarity. We also thank the officials at the Big Bend National Park for allowing us to conduct fieldwork in the area. Fieldwork associated to this project was carried out under collecting permits FLOR-0004 and FLOR-0094, provided by Secretaría del Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Pesca, Mexico.

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Author notes

  1. Bárbara Goettsch

    Present address: Biodiversity and Macroecology Group, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Botánica, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 70-233, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510, Mexico City, Mexico

    Héctor M. Hernández, Bárbara Goettsch & Carlos Gómez-Hinostrosa

  2. Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 70-275, 04510, Mexico City, Mexico

    Héctor T. Arita

Authors
  1. Héctor M. Hernández
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  2. Bárbara Goettsch
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  3. Carlos Gómez-Hinostrosa
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  4. Héctor T. Arita
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Héctor M. Hernández.

Appendices

Appendices

Appendix 1 Number, localization, altitude, and number of cactus species found in the sampling sites
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Appendix 2 Relative frequencies of the cactus species found in the megatransect. All vouchers were deposited in the National Herbarium of Mexico (MEXU)
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Hernández, H.M., Goettsch, B., Gómez-Hinostrosa, C. et al. Cactus species turnover and diversity along a latitudinal transect in the Chihuahuan Desert Region. Biodivers Conserv 17, 703–720 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-007-9303-2

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