Distribution patterns of tropical woody species in response to climatic and edaphic gradients

• Published in: The Journal of ecology Vol. 100; no. 1; pp. 253 - 263
• Main Authors: Toledo, Marisol, Peña‐Claros, Marielos, Bongers, Frans, Alarcón, Alfredo, Balcázar, Julio, Chuviña, José, Leaño, Claudio, Licona, Juan Carlos, Poorter, Lourens
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.01.2012; Blackwell Publishing; Blackwell
• Subjects: abundance; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; biogeography; Biological and medical sciences; Biological variation; climate; Climate change; Climate models; continuum theory; curves; Distribution patterns; drought; Dry season; environmental filters; Environmental gradient; environmental gradients; Forest ecology; Forest soils; Forestry; Forests; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; General forest ecology; Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology; gradients; habitats; Human ecology; logistic-regression; moist forest; Plant species; Plant-climate interactions; Plants; Rain; rain-forest; response curve; soil; Soil ecology; soil factors; Soil fertility; Soil texture; Soils; Species; species distribution; Temperature; tree; Trees; Tropical environments; tropical forest; Tropical forests; tropics; unimodal response; woody plants; Bolivia; Climate; Temperature; species distribution; gradients; Interaction; Tropical zone; plant-climate interactions; Response curve; Tropical forest; soil; Woody plant; Climatic condition; Soils; Spatial distribution; Geographic distribution; environmental filters; Environment; Distribution range; unimodal response
• ISSN: 0022-0477; 1365-2745
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2011.01890.x

1. The analysis of species distribution patterns along environmental gradients is important for understanding the diversity and ecology of plants and species responses to climate change, but detailed data are surprisingly scarce for the tropics. 2. Here, we analyse the distribution of 100 woody species over 220 1‐ha forest plots distributed over an area of c. 160 000 km2, across large environmental gradients in lowland Bolivia and evaluate the relative importance of climate and soils in shaping species distribution addressing four multivariate environmental axes (rainfall amount and distribution, temperature, soil fertility and soil texture). 3. Although species abundance was positively related to species frequency (the number of plots in which the species is found), this relationship was rather weak, which challenges the view that most tropical forests are dominated at large scales by a few common species. 4. Species responded clearly to environmental gradients, and for most of the species (65%), climatic and soil conditions could explain most of the variation in occurrence (R2 > 0.50), which challenges the idea that most tropical tree species are habitat generalists. 5. Climate was a stronger driver of species distribution than soils; 91% of the species were affected by rainfall (distribution), 72% by temperature, 47% by soil fertility and 44% by soil texture. In contrast to our expectation, few species showed a typical unimodal response to the environmental gradients. 6. Synthesis. Tropical tree species specialize for different parts of the environmental gradients, and climate is a stronger driver of species distribution than soils. Because climate change scenarios predict increases in annual temperature and a stronger dry season for tropical forests, we may expect potentially large shifts in the distribution of tropical trees.