Historical effects on beta diversity and community assembly in Amazonian trees.

ABSTRACT: We present a unique perspective on the role of historical processes in community assembly by synthesizing analyses of species turnover among communities with environmental data and independent, population genetic-derived estimates of among-community dispersal. We sampled floodplain and terra firme communities of the diverse tree genus Inga (Fabaceae) across a 250-km transect in Amazonian Peru and found patterns of distance-decay in compositional similarity in both habitat types. However, conventional analyses of distance-decay masked a zone of increased species turnover present in the middle of the transect. We estimated past seed dispersal among the same communities by examining geographic plastid DNA variation for eight widespread Inga species and uncovered a population genetic break in

SUBMITTER: Dexter KG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3356654 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature