Tree community patterns along pond-upland topographic gradients, upper Uruguay River basin, southern Brazil
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Tree community patterns along pond-upland topographic gradients, upper Uruguay River basin, southern Brazil Daniel Grasel & Eduardo Luís Hettwer Giehl Florian Wittmann & João André Jarenkow
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Received: 11 October 2019 / Revised: 30 March 2020 / Accepted: 18 April 2020 # Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences 2020
Abstract We investigated the interrelations between environmental variables (proxies for water availability and soil physico-chemical properties) and tree community patterns (diversity, composition and structure) along pond-upland topographic gradients within depressional watersheds in the upper Uruguay River basin in southern Brazil. Sampling plots were allocated in four topographic habitats: (1) inside ponds (wetland sites) and (2) immediately outside them, and in areas with (3) 60 cm and (4) 120 cm of elevation in relation to Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-020-09368-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. D. Grasel (*) : J. A. Jarenkow Programa de Pós-Graduação em Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, CEP 91501-970, Bloco IV, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] E. L. H. Giehl Departamento de Ecologia e Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Trindade, CEP 88040-900, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil F. Wittmann Department of Wetland Ecology, Institute for Geography and Geoecology, Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, Josef-Str. 1, Rastatt 76437, Germany J. A. Jarenkow Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, CEP 91501-970, Bloco IV, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
their limits (upland sites). Environmental conditions and forest composition varied along pond-upland gradients, but the diversity and structure of tree communities did not. Species turnover was associated with changes in topography-driven environmental conditions, notably water availability. Depressional watersheds show regionally unique abiotic and biotic features but are virtually unprotected by Brazilian private land legislation. Keywords microtopography . depressional watersheds . upland-embedded wetlands . swamp forests . upland forests . environmental legislation
Introduction Topography is widely recognized to shape forest patterns through its direct or indirect influence on a myriad of environmental drivers (Moeslund et al. 2013; Jucker et al. 2018). Studies conducted along wetland-upland gradients have revealed consistent associations between distinct tree communities and specific topographic habitats, which have been most commonly attributed to variations in soil physico-chemical properties and particularly in hydrological characteristics (Giehl and Jarenkow 2008; Schietti et al. 2014). However, this knowledge is largely based on studies developed across riparian-upland environments whereas little is known about forest z
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