Can small-scale altitudinal gradients predict spatial and temporal patterns in tropical forests?
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Can small‑scale altitudinal gradients predict spatial and temporal patterns in tropical forests? Mariana Caroline Moreira Morelli1 · Cléber Rodrigo de Souza1 · Jean Daniel Morel1 · Vinícius Andrade Maia1 · Alisson Borges Miranda Santos1 · Kaline Fernandes Miranda2 · Rubens Manoel dos Santos1
Received: 23 March 2020 / Accepted: 9 October 2020 © Northeast Forestry University 2020
Abstract In tropical montane forests, compositional and structural changes are commonly driven by broad-scale altitudinal variation. Here, given the lack of knowledge on small-scale vegetation changes and temporal dynamics, we address the effects of small-scale variations in soil and altitude on tree community structure, temporal dynamics and phylogenetic diversity in a semi-deciduous tropical forest of the Atlantic Forest Domain, southeastern Brazil. In 2010 and 2015 we sampled thirty plots of 400 m2, set up along an altitudinal gradient between 1000 and 1500 m a.s.l.. In each plot, we collected soil samples for chemical and textural analyses. We fitted linear models to test the effects of altitude and soil on community dynamics and phylogenetic parameters. Altitude and soil explained the spatial variation in number of individuals and phylogenetic diversity metrics. From lower to higher altitudes, we found decreasing fertility, increasing tree density and decreasing phylogenetic Project funding: The first survey (2010) was carried out within projects financed by Foundation for the Support to the Researches in Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) and Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) under the codes APQ-03501-09 (FAPEMIG) and 481363 / 2009-2 (CNPq). The second survey (2015) didn’t have funding and was made with particular resources. The online version is available at http://www.springerlink.com. Corresponding editor: Yu Lei. * Mariana Caroline Moreira Morelli [email protected] 1
Forest Sciences Department, Federal University of Lavras, Campus Universitário, Cx. P. 3037, Lavras, MG, CEP 37200‑000, Brazil
2
Department of Biology, Federal University of Lavras, Campus Universitário, Lavras, MG, CEP 37200‑000, Brazil
diversity. Altitude significantly influenced the increases in total biomass (from 240.9 to 255.4 t h a−1) and individual biomass (from 0.15 to 0.17 t) recorded in the interval. And while community temporal dynamics had rates of 1.96% for mortality, 1.02% for recruitment, 1.61% for biomass loss and 2.81% for biomass gain, none of them were explained by altitude or soil. Temporal species substitution averaged 0.1 in the interval. Altogether, these results suggest that the small-scale variations in altitude and soil likely determine the conditions and resources that drive community assembly and structure, which are expressed by spatial variations along the altitudinal gradient. At the same time, temporal patterns were not influenced by altitude-related environmental variation, resulting in a similar dynamic behaviour across the gradient, suggesting that broad-scale factors may play a m
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