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Ferns and Melastomataceae as indicators of vascular plant composition in rain forests of Colombian Amazonia

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Abstract

In a case-study from Colombian Amazonia, species information from ferns and Melastomataceae was used to explain the compositional patterns of other vascular plant species in 40 widely distributed 0.1-ha plots. Canonical correspondence analysis was applied to regress vascular plant species composition in the forests against information from these two indicator groups (summarized as axes of principal coordinate analyses), together with that from soils, landscape, and the spatial sampling design. In total, 53,941 individuals of 2480 vascular plant species were recorded. Of these, 17,473 individuals and 132 species were from ferns and Melastomataceae. In 19 well-drained upland (tierra firme) plots 19,622 vascular plant individuals and 1716 species were found, with 3793 plants and 91 species from ferns and Melastomataceae. In both the set of all landscapes and the subset of tierra firme forests the principal PCoA axes of the two indicator groups were highly related to the main patterns of forest species composition. In principle, therefore, ferns and Melastomataceae can be used to detect and forecast changes in the forest composition of the study area. However, evidence was not obtained that ferns and Melastomataceae show more potential to predict the main patterns in species composition of forests than soil, landscape, and spatial variables. The partioning of the total variation in forest composition showed that the correlation of ferns and Melastomataceae with other forest plants was quite independent from that of soil, landscape, and space. Direct effects of ferns and Melastomataceae on other plants might be obtained from experimental studies of between-plant interactions, concentrating on the seedling or juvenile stages of trees and lianas, both above-ground as well as in the rooting environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), Universiteit van Amsterdam, Kruislaan 318, 1098SM, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Alvaro J. Duque, Joost F. Duivenvoorden & Mauricio Sánchez

  2. Fundación Tropenbos-Colombia, Carrera 21# 39–35, Bogotá, Colombia

    Alvaro J. Duque, Carolina Polanía & Andrea León

  3. Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Washington, DC, USA

    Jaime Cavelier

  4. Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

    Carolina Polanía & Andrea León

Authors
  1. Alvaro J. Duque
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  2. Joost F. Duivenvoorden
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  3. Jaime Cavelier
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  4. Mauricio Sánchez
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  5. Carolina Polanía
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  6. Andrea León
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Correspondence to Joost F. Duivenvoorden.

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Duque, A., Duivenvoorden, J., Cavelier, J. et al. Ferns and Melastomataceae as indicators of vascular plant composition in rain forests of Colombian Amazonia. Plant Ecol 178, 1–13 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-004-1956-2

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