Frontiers of Biogeography (Dec 2018)
Community structure of woody plants on islands along a bioclimatic gradient
- Paulo A.V. Borges,
- Pedro Cardoso,
- Simone Fattorini,
- François Rigal,
- Thomas J. Matthews,
- Letizia Di Biase,
- Isabel R. Amorim,
- Margarita Florencio,
- Luis Borda-de-Água,
- Carla Rego,
- Fernando Pereira,
- Rui Nunes,
- Rui Carvalho,
- Maria Teresa Ferreira,
- Heriberto López,
- Antonio J. Pérez Delgado,
- Rüdiger Otto,
- Silvia Fernández Lugo,
- Lea de Nascimento,
- Juli Caujapé-Castells,
- Juliane Casquet,
- Samuel Danflous,
- Jacques Fournel,
- Anne-Marie Sadeyen,
- Rui B. Elias,
- José María Fernández-Palacios,
- Pedro Oromí,
- Christophe Thébaud,
- Dominique Strasberg,
- Brent C. Emerson
Affiliations
- Paulo A.V. Borges
- cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores – Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Açores, Portugal
- Pedro Cardoso
- Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, P.O.Box 17 (Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu 13), 00014 Helsinki, Finland; cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Açores, Portugal
- Simone Fattorini
- Department of Life, Health & Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila, 67100 L'Aquila, Italy
- François Rigal
- CNRS-Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Institut des Sciences Analytiques et de Physico-Chimie pour l'Environnement et les Materiaux, MIRA, Environment and Microbiology Team, UMR 5254, BP 1155, 64013 Pau Cedex, France; cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores – Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Açores, Portugal
- Thomas J. Matthews
- GEES (School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences), The University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; Birmingham Institute of Forest Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK; cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores – Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Açores, Portugal
- Letizia Di Biase
- Via Dante Alighieri 60, 00071, Pomezia, Italy
- Isabel R. Amorim
- cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Açores, Portugal
- Margarita Florencio
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Alcalá, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain; Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Avenida Esperança, s/n, Câmpus Samambaia, CEP 74690-900, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil; cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Açores, Portugal
- Luis Borda-de-Água
- REFER Biodiversity Chair, CIBIO - Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos , Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão,4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
- Carla Rego
- cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Açores, Portugal
- Fernando Pereira
- cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Açores, Portugal
- Rui Nunes
- cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Açores, Portugal
- Rui Carvalho
- cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Açores, Portugal
- Maria Teresa Ferreira
- cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Açores, Portugal
- Heriberto López
- Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group, IPNA-CSIC, C/Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez 3, 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
- Antonio J. Pérez Delgado
- Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group, IPNA-CSIC, C/Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez 3, 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain; Dept. of Animal Biology and Edaphology and Geology, University of La Laguna (ULL), 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
- Rüdiger Otto
- Island Ecology and Biogeography Group. Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias, University of La Laguna (ULL), 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
- Silvia Fernández Lugo
- Island Ecology and Biogeography Group. Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias, University of La Laguna (ULL), 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
- Lea de Nascimento
- Island Ecology and Biogeography Group. Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias, University of La Laguna (ULL), 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
- Juli Caujapé-Castells
- Jardín Botánico Canario "Viera y Clavijo" - Unidad Asociada CSIC, Cabildo de Gran Canaria. Camino al Palmeral 15, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
- Juliane Casquet
- Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR 5174 CNRS-Université Paul Sabatier-IRD, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
- Samuel Danflous
- Conservatoire d'espaces naturels de Midi-Pyrénées, 75 Voie du Toec, BP 57611, F-31076 Toulouse cedex 3, France
- Jacques Fournel
- UMR PVBMT, Université de La Reunion, 15 avenue René Cassin 97744 Saint Denis Cedex 9, Reunion, France
- Anne-Marie Sadeyen
- UMR PVBMT, Université de La Reunion, 15 avenue René Cassin 97744 Saint Denis Cedex 9, Reunion, France
- Rui B. Elias
- cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores, Rua Capitão João d’Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Açores, Portugal
- José María Fernández-Palacios
- Island Ecology and Biogeography Group. Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias, University of La Laguna (ULL), 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
- Pedro Oromí
- Dept. of Animal Biology and Edaphology and Geology, University of La Laguna (ULL), 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
- Christophe Thébaud
- Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR 5174 CNRS-Université Paul Sabatier-IRD, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
- Dominique Strasberg
- UMR PVBMT, Université de La Reunion, 15 avenue René Cassin 97744 Saint Denis Cedex 9, Reunion, France
- Brent C. Emerson
- Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group, IPNA-CSIC, C/Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez 3, 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain; School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.21425/F5FBG40295
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 10,
no. 3-4
Abstract
Understanding patterns of community structure and the causes for their variation can be furthered by comparative biogeographic analyses of island biotas. We used woody plant data at the local scale to investigate variations in species rarity, alpha, beta, and gamma diversity within and between three islands from the oceanic archipelagoes of Azores, Canaries and Mascarene. We used standardized protocols to sample ten 50 m × 50 m forest plots in each of the three islands with contrasting climate and regional species pools: Terceira (Azores), Tenerife (Canaries), and Reunion (Mascarene Islands). Occupancy frequency distributions and species abundance distributions were used to investigate rarity. The partitioning of beta diversity in a distance-decay framework was used to test for spatial patterns of community composition. Rarity was much more pronounced in the highly diverse islands of Tenerife and Reunion than in the regionally poorer island of Terceira. The number of species rose faster with increasing sample area in both Tenerife and Reunion. The slope of the species rank abundance curve was steeper in Terceira whereas the richer island assemblages approached a lognormal model. Compositional changes according to spatial distance were mostly due to replacement of species in Terceira and Reunion. Our results point to important differences in the community structure of Terceira, which is the less diverse and temperate region in comparison to Tenerife and Reunion which are highly diverse.
Keywords
- Beta diversity partition
- distance-decay
- islands
- rarity
- species abundance distribution (SAD)
- species area relationship (SAR)
