Drivers of tropical rainforest composition and alpha diversity patterns over a 2,520 m altitudinal gradient.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

We sought to determine the relationship of forest composition and alpha diversity (the species diversity of a local assemblage) to altitude, soil, and spatial factors over a 440-2,950 m a.s.l gradient.

Location

Altitudinal gradient on the Caribbean slope of the Talamanca Cordillera, Costa Rica.

Taxon

Angiosperm and gymnosperm trees, palms, and tree ferns.

Methods

We measured and identified all stems ≥10 cm dbh in 32 0.25-ha undisturbed rain forest plots over the gradient. We determined compositional patterns using Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMS) ordination, and used linear regressions to explore the relationship between four alpha diversity metrics and altitude. With variation partitioning (VARPART), we determined the compositional variation expla

SUBMITTER: Veintimilla D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6540655 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature