The composition of Amazonian forests: patterns at local and regional scales

An analysis was conducted of floristic patterns contained in 48 1-ha tree plots distributed at 29 sites in seven neotropical countries, with a primary emphasis on the Amazonian region. Analyses were made with family level data, using detrended correspondence analysis and multidimensional scaling to generate two-dimensional ordinations. Dissimilarity values for all pairs of plots were then used to compare forest composition at both local (flooded vs unflooded forests) and regional scales (e.g., western vs central vs eastern Amazonia). The predominate family of trees in a large majority of Amazonian and Guianan forests (by number of stems) is either Palmae or Leguminosae (sensu latu), followed by Moraceae and Euphorbiaceae. The forests of western Amazonia are particularly rich in palms, Moraceae, and Myristicaceae, whereas those of eastern Amazonia and the Guianas are rich in Lecythidaceae and Chrysobalanaceae. Dissimilarity between sites increases with distance for both flooded and unflooded forests. The tree communities of flooded and unflooded forests within a region tended to resemble one another more closely than forests of either type resembled the homologous forests of the adjoining regions. Within Amazonia the edaphic properties of each region and its geological history are tightly interrelated. It is therefore difficult to distinguish between evolutionary and ecological interpretations of the results.

[1]  Jari Oksanen,et al.  Instability of ordination results under changes in input data order: explanations and remedies , 1997 .

[2]  D. Lieberman,et al.  TROPICAL FOREST STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION ON A LARGE-SCALE ALTITUDINAL GRADIENT IN COSTA RICA , 1996 .

[3]  F. R. Negri,et al.  Late Miocene Tidal Deposits in the Amazonian Foreland Basin , 1995, Science.

[4]  Hanna Tuomisto,et al.  Dissecting Amazonian Biodiversity , 1995, Science.

[5]  J. Terborgh,et al.  Tropical Tree Communities: A Test of the Nonequilibrium Hypothesis , 1995 .

[6]  Hanna Tuomisto,et al.  Use of digitally processed satellite images in studies of tropical rain forest vegetation , 1994 .

[7]  H. Tuomisto,et al.  Distribution of Pteridophyta and Melastomataceae along an edaphic gradient in an Amazonian rain forest , 1994 .

[8]  J. Felfili,et al.  A comparative study of cerrado (sensu stricto) vegetation in Central Brazil , 1993, Journal of Tropical Ecology.

[9]  R. Kalliola,et al.  Mineral nutrients in fluvial sediments from the Peruvian Amazon , 1993 .

[10]  M. Räsänen,et al.  Recent and ancient fluvial deposition systems in the Amazonian foreland basin, Peru , 1992, Geological Magazine.

[11]  D. Campbell,et al.  A comparison of the phytosociology and dynamics of three floodplain (Várzea) forests of known ages, Rio Juruá, western Brazilian Amazon , 1992 .

[12]  A. Gentry,et al.  Tropical forest biodiversity : distributional patterns and their conservational significance , 1992 .

[13]  B Efron,et al.  Statistical Data Analysis in the Computer Age , 1991, Science.

[14]  C. Peres.  Ecology of mixed-species groups of tamarins in Amazonian terra firme forests. , 1991 .

[15]  A. Gentry,et al.  Four Neotropical Rainforests , 1991 .

[16]  J. Proctor,et al.  Preliminary studies on forest structure and floristics on Volcán Barva, Costa Rica , 1990, Journal of Tropical Ecology.

[17]  W. Junk,et al.  Status and distribution of forested wetlands in tropical South America , 1990 .

[18]  W. D. Billings,et al.  North American Terrestrial Vegetation , 1988 .

[19]  R. Kalliola,et al.  Fluvial Perturbance in the Western Amazon Basin: Regulation by Long-Term Sub-Andean Tectonics , 1987, Science.

[20]  B. Boom.  A forest inventory in Amazonian Bolivia , 1986 .

[21]  J. Ayres.  Uakaris and Amazonian flooded forest. , 1986 .

[22]  D. Daly,et al.  Quantitative ecological inventory of terra firme and várzea tropical forest on the Rio Xingu, Brazilian Amazon , 1986 .

[23]  P. Coley,et al.  River dynamics and the diversity of Amazon lowland forest , 1986, Nature.

[24]  D. Lieberman,et al.  Small-scale altitudinal variation in lowland wet tropical forest vegetation , 1985 .

[25]  Donald M. Windsor,et al.  The ecology of a tropical forest. Seasonal rhythms and long-term changes. , 1984 .

[26]  Pedro Ivo Soares Braga.  Subdivisão fitogeográfica, tipos de vegetação, conservação e inventário florístico da floresta amazônica , 1979 .

[27]  J. Haffer.  Speciation in amazonian forest birds. , 1969, Science.

[28]  J. Pires,et al.  An Estimate of the Number of Species of Trees in an Amazonian Forest Community , 1953, Botanical Gazette.

[29]  G. A. Black,et al.  Some Attempts to Estimate Species Diversity and Population Density of Trees in Amazonian Forests , 1950, Botanical Gazette.

[30]  J. S. Beard,et al.  Climax Vegetation in Tropical America , 1944 .

[31]  P. Richards,et al.  The Vegetation of Moraballi Creek, British Guiana: An Ecological Study of a Limited Area of Tropical Rain Forest. Part II , 1933 .

[32]  Dolph Schluter,et al.  Species diversity in ecological communities: historical and geographical perspectives. , 1993 .

[33]  Dolph Schluter,et al.  Continental comparisons of temperate-zone tree species diversity. , 1993 .

[34]  Risto Kalliola,et al.  Amazonia peruana : vegetacion humeda tropical en el llano subandino , 1993 .

[35]  D. Richter,et al.  Soil Diversity in the Tropics , 1991 .

[36]  Kalle Ruokolainen,et al.  The dynamics, distribution and classification of swamp vegetation in Peruvian Amazonia , 1991 .

[37]  A. Gentry.  Floristic similarities and differences between southern Central America and Upper and Central America , 1990 .

[38]  W. Junk.  Flood tolerance and tree distribution in central Amazonian floodplains , 1989 .

[39]  M. Silva,et al.  Análise do estrato arbóreo da vegetação sobre jazidas de cobre na Serra dos Carajás , 1989 .

[40]  A. Gentry,et al.  Changes in Plant Community Diversity and Floristic Composition on Environmental and Geographical Gradients , 1988 .

[41]  C.J.F. ter Braak,et al.  CANOCO - a FORTRAN program for canonical community ordination by [partial] [etrended] [canonical] correspondence analysis, principal components analysis and redundancy analysis (version 2.1) , 1988 .

[42]  M. Silva,et al.  Inventário ecológico em floresta pluvial tropical de terra firme, Serra Norte, Carajás, Pará. , 1988 .

[43]  M. Jacobs.  The Tropical Rain Forest , 1988, Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

[44]  H. Balslev,et al.  Composition and structure of adjacent unflooded and flood-plain forest in Amazonian Ecuador. , 1987 .

[45]  J. Pires,et al.  The vegetation types of the Brazilian Amazon , 1985 .

[46]  F. Encarnación.  Introducción a la flora y vegetación de la Amazonia peruana: estado actual estudios, medio natural y ensayo de una clave de determinación de las formaciones vegetales en la llanura amazónica , 1985 .

[47]  H. Sioli,et al.  The Amazon and its main affluents: Hydrography, morphology of the river courses, and river types , 1984 .

[48]  A. Gentry,et al.  Neotropical Floristic Diversity: Phytogeographical Connections Between Central and South America, Pleistocene Climatic Fluctuations, or an Accident of the Andean Orogeny? , 1982 .

[49]  L. Holdridge.  Life zone ecology. , 1967 .