Latitudinal and altitudinal patterns of plant community diversity on mountain summits across the tropical Andes |
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| Authors: | Francisco Cuesta Priscilla Muriel Luis Daniel Llambí Stephan Halloy Nikolay Aguirre Stephan Beck Julieta Carilla Rosa Isela Meneses Soledad Cuello Alfredo Grau Luis E. Gámez Javier Irazábal Jorge Jácome Ricardo Jaramillo Lirey Ramírez Natalia Samaniego David Suárez‐Duque Natali Thompson Alfredo Tupayachi Paul Viñas Karina Yager María T. Becerra Harald Pauli William D. Gosling |
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| Affiliation: | 1. http://orcid.org/0000‐0001‐9903‐8401;2. Palaeoecology and Landscape Ecology, Inst. for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), Univ. of Amsterdam, Biodiversity Dept, the Netherlands;3. Consorcio para el Desarrollo Sostenible de la Ecorregión Andina (CONDESAN). WDG also at: Dept of Environment, Earth and Ecosystems, The Open Univ., Milton Keynes, UK;4. Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Univ. Católica del Ecuador, Ecuador;5. Inst. de Ciencias Ambientales y Ecológicas, Univ. de los Andes, Venezuela;6. Univ. Nacional de Chilecito, Argentina and Ministry for Primary Industries, New Zealand;7. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Research Program, Univ. Nacional de Loja, Ecuador;8. Herbario La Paz, Univ. Mayor de San Andrés, Bolivia;9. Inst. de Ecología Regional, Univ. Nacional de Tucumán, Inst. de Química del Noroeste, CONICET, Univ. Nacional de Tucumán, Argentina;10. Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Ambientales, Univ. de Los Andes, Venezuela;11. Pontificia Univ. Javeriana, Depto de Biología, Unidad de Ecología y Sistemática (UNESIS), Colombia;12. Cooperación Técnica Alemana, GIZ, Ecuador;13. Naturaleza y Cultura Internacional, Peru;14. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, USA;15. Earth Innovation Inst., Colombia;16. Inst. for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences and Center for Global Change and Sustainability, Univ. of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Austria |
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| Abstract: | The high tropical Andes host one of the richest alpine floras of the world, with exceptionally high levels of endemism and turnover rates. Yet, little is known about the patterns and processes that structure altitudinal and latitudinal variation in plant community diversity. Herein we present the first continental‐scale comparative study of plant community diversity on summits of the tropical Andes. Data were obtained from 792 permanent vegetation plots (1 m2) within 50 summits, distributed along a 4200 km transect; summit elevations ranged between 3220 and 5498 m a.s.l. We analyzed the plant community data to assess: 1) differences in species abundance patterns in summits across the region, 2) the role of geographic distance in explaining floristic similarity and 3) the importance of altitudinal and latitudinal environmental gradients in explaining plant community composition and richness. On the basis of species abundance patterns, our summit communities were separated into two major groups: Puna and Páramo. Floristic similarity declined with increasing geographic distance between study‐sites, the correlation being stronger in the more insular Páramo than in the Puna (corresponding to higher species turnover rates within the Páramo). Ordination analysis (CCA) showed that precipitation, maximum temperature and rock cover were the strongest predictors of community similarity across all summits. Generalized linear model (GLM) quasi‐Poisson regression indicated that across all summits species richness increased with maximum air temperature and above‐ground necromass and decreased on summits where scree was the dominant substrate. Our results point to different environmental variables as key factors for explaining vertical and latitudinal species turnover and species richness patterns on high Andean summits, offering a powerful tool to detect contrasting latitudinal and altitudinal effects of climate change across the tropical Andes. |
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