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Regional variation in tropical forest tree species composition in the Central African Republic: an assessment based on inventories by forest companies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2008

Maxime Réjou-Méchain ,
Raphaël Pélissier ,
Sylvie Gourlet-Fleury ,
Pierre Couteron ,
Robert Nasi  and
John D. Thompson
Maxime Réjou-Méchain*
Affiliation:
UMR 5175 CEFE, CNRS, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier, France Cirad, Environments and Societies Department, ‘Natural Forest Dynamics’ Research Unit, Campus International de Baillarguet, TA 10C, BP 5035, Montpellier, 34035, France
Raphaël Pélissier
Affiliation:
Institut Français de Pondichéry, 11 St Louis Street, Puducherry 605001, India IRD, UMR AMAP (botAnique et bioinforMatique de l'Architecture des Plantes), TA51A/PS2, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 05, France
Sylvie Gourlet-Fleury
Affiliation:
Cirad, Environments and Societies Department, ‘Natural Forest Dynamics’ Research Unit, Campus International de Baillarguet, TA 10C, BP 5035, Montpellier, 34035, France
Pierre Couteron
Affiliation:
IRD, UMR AMAP (botAnique et bioinforMatique de l'Architecture des Plantes), TA51A/PS2, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 05, France
Robert Nasi
Affiliation:
Cirad, Environment and Society Department, ‘Forest resources and public policies’ Research Unit, Campus International de Baillarguet, TA 10C, BP 5035, Montpellier, 34035, France/CIFOR, ‘Environmental Services and Sustainable Use of Forests’ Programme, 6596 JKPWB, 10065 Jakarta, Indonesia
John D. Thompson
Affiliation:
UMR 5175 CEFE, CNRS, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier, France
*
1Corresponding author. Email: maxime.rejou-mechain@cefe.cnrs.fr
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Abstract:

Understanding how species assemblages are structured in relation to environmental variation is a central issue in community ecology. However, factors that create regional variation in relative species abundances have been little studied due to the rarity of large-scale datasets. Here, we investigated a large dataset (30 180 0.5-ha plots spread over 1 600 000 ha) gathered from forest planning inventories in the semi-deciduous forest of the south western Central African Republic. We used Correspondence Analysis and Non-Symmetric Correspondence Analysis on Instrumental Variables to analyse variation in the abundance of 73 common tree species in relation to soil type, rainfall and proximity to villages. Together, environmental variables explained 10.3% of multi-species floristic variation among plots, and the regional spatial structure almost disappeared when the effects of these variables were removed. A Trend Surface Analysis using a third order polynomial function of the geographical coordinates of the plots explained 14.5% of the floristic variation and more than 75% of this variation was explained by environmental variables. Sandy soil was the most influential factor affecting floristic composition. Residual spatial variation not explained by the environmental variables probably reflects the natural and anthropogenic history of the vegetation.

Keywords

Africabeta diversitycommunity compositionhabitat associationNon-Symmetric Correspondence Analysissoiltree communitiestrend surface analysis
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 24 , Issue 6 , November 2008 , pp. 663 - 674
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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References

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