Geographic patterns of tree dispersal modes in Amazonia and their ecological correlates

• Published in: Global ecology and biogeography Vol. 32; no. 1; pp. 49 - 69
• Main Authors: Stevenson, Pablo R., Umaña, Maria Natalia, Lima Filho, Diógenes de Andrade, Salomão, Rafael P., Matos, Francisca Dionízia de Almeida, Phillips, Oliver L., Guevara, Juan Ernesto, Carim, Marcelo de Jesus Veiga, Molino, Jean‐François, Irume, Mariana Victória, Guimarães, José Renan da Silva, Piedade, Maria Teresa Fernandez, Ramos, José Ferreira, Luize, Bruno Garcia, Silva, Thiago Sanna Freire, Venticinque, Eduardo Martins, Manzatto, Angelo Gilberto, Casula, Katia Regina, Cárdenas López, Dairon, Zartman, Charles Eugene, Marimon‐Junior, Ben Hur, Mostacedo, Bonifacio, Assis, Rafael L., Baraloto, Christopher, Petronelli, Pascal, Castellanos, Hernán, Simon, Marcelo Fragomeni, Andrade, Ana, Maniguaje Rincón, Lorena, Schietti, Juliana, Sousa, Thaiane R., Farias, Emanuelle de Sousa, Lopes, Maria Aparecida, Queiroz, Helder Lima de, Aymard C., Gerardo A., Brienen, Roel, Cardenas Revilla, Juan David, Cintra, Bruno Barçante Ladvocat, Duivenvoorden, Joost F., Mogollón, Hugo F., Lozada, José Rafael, Comiskey, James A., Toledo, José Julio, Vicentini, Alberto, Draper, Freddie C., Alonso, Alfonso, Arroyo, Luzmila, Carvalho, Fernanda Antunes, Souza, Fernanda Coelho, Amaral, Dário Dantas do, Feeley, Kenneth J., Barlow, Jos, Jimenez, Eliana M., Villa Zegarra, Boris Eduardo, Henkel, Terry W., Householder, John Ethan, Maas, Paul, Stropp, Juliana, Thomas, Raquel, Durgante, Flávia Machado, Daly, Doug, Huamantupa‐Chuquimaco, Isau, Ríos Paredes, Marcos, Molina, Pardo, Klitgaard, Bente, Marcelo Peña, José Luis, Di Fiore, Anthony, Hilário, Renato Richard, Rivas‐Torres, Gonzalo, Hildebrand, Patricio, Barbosa, Flávia Rodrigues, Bonates, Luiz Carlos de Matos, Carpanedo, Rainiellen de Sá, Zárate Gómez, Ricardo, Junqueira, André Braga, Malhi, Yadvinder, Miranda, Ires Paula de Andrade, Rodrigues, Domingos de Jesus, Vela, César I. A., Zent, Egleé L., Nascimento, Marcelo Trindade, Oliveira, Alexandre A., Scudeller, Veridiana Vizoni, Heijden, Geertje, Balslev, Henrik, Cárdenas, Sasha, Casas, Luisa Fernanda, Farfan‐Rios, William, Ferreira, Cid, Linares‐Palomino, Reynaldo, Mendoza, Casimiro, Mesones, Italo, Torres‐Lezama, Armando, Zagt, Roderick, Palacios Cuenca, Walter, Pansini, Susamar, Pauletto, Daniela, Valderrama Sandoval, Elvis H., Valenzuela Gamarra, Luis, Steege, Hans
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Norwegian
• Published: Oxford Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.01.2023; Wiley
• Subjects: Abundance; Amazonian rain forests; anemochory; atlantic forest; Availability; Biodiversity; Biodiversity and Ecology; Botanics; climate-change; defaunation; Dispersal; dispersal agents; disperser-availability hypothesis; Dispersion; diversity; Earth and Related Environmental Sciences; Ecology, environment; Ecosystems; endozoochory; Environmental Sciences; Environmental Sciences & Ecology; flooded forests; Forests; Frugivores; fruit production; Fruits; Generalized linear models; Geographical distribution; Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap; Guiana Shield; hydrochory; Hypotheses; Life Sciences; neotropical forests; Physical Geography; Podzols; Rainforests; Recruitment; resource-availability hypothesis; River basins; scale patterns; seed-dispersal; Seedlings; size; Statistical models; synzoochory; Systematics, Phylogenetics and taxonomy; terra-firme; terra‐firme forests; Trees; Vegetal Biology; Wind speed; woody-plants; Amazonian rain forests; disperser-availability hypothesis; dispersal agents; Flooded forests; Resource-availability hypothesis; endozoochory; Synzoochory; Hydrochory; Anemochory; Terra-firme forests
• ISSN: 1466-822X; 1466-8238; 1466-822X
• DOI: 10.1111/geb.13596

Aim To investigate the geographic patterns and ecological correlates in the geographic distribution of the most common tree dispersal modes in Amazonia (endozoochory, synzoochory, anemochory and hydrochory). We examined if the proportional abundance of these dispersal modes could be explained by the availability of dispersal agents (disperser‐availability hypothesis) and/or the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits (resource‐availability hypothesis). Time period Tree‐inventory plots established between 1934 and 2019. Major taxa studied Trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 9.55 cm. Location Amazonia, here defined as the lowland rain forests of the Amazon River basin and the Guiana Shield. Methods We assigned dispersal modes to a total of 5433 species and morphospecies within 1877 tree‐inventory plots across terra‐firme, seasonally flooded, and permanently flooded forests. We investigated geographic patterns in the proportional abundance of dispersal modes. We performed an abundance‐weighted mean pairwise distance (MPD) test and fit generalized linear models (GLMs) to explain the geographic distribution of dispersal modes. Results Anemochory was significantly, positively associated with mean annual wind speed, and hydrochory was significantly higher in flooded forests. Dispersal modes did not consistently show significant associations with the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits. A lower dissimilarity in dispersal modes, resulting from a higher dominance of endozoochory, occurred in terra‐firme forests (excluding podzols) compared to flooded forests. Main conclusions The disperser‐availability hypothesis was well supported for abiotic dispersal modes (anemochory and hydrochory). The availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits seems an unlikely explanation for the distribution of dispersal modes in Amazonia. The association between frugivores and the proportional abundance of zoochory requires further research, as tree recruitment not only depends on dispersal vectors but also on conditions that favour or limit seedling recruitment across forest types.