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The relative roles of environment, history and local dispersal in controlling the distributions of common tree and shrub species in a tropical forest landscape, Panama

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2006

Jens-Christian Svenning
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus C., Denmark Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panamá
Bettina M. J. Engelbrecht
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panamá Department of Plant Ecology and Systematics, University of Kaiserslautern, 67653 Kaiserslautern, Germany
David A. Kinner
Affiliation:
Central Region Geologic Hazards Team, U.S. Geological Survey, Box 25046 DFC, Mail Stop 966, Denver, CO 80225, USA
Thomas A. Kursar
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panamá Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
Robert F. Stallard
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panamá U.S. Geological Survey, 3215 Marine St E127, Boulder, CO 80303-1066, USA
S. Joseph Wright
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panamá

Abstract

We used regression models and information-theoretic model selection to assess the relative importance of environment, local dispersal and historical contingency as controls of the distributions of 26 common plant species in tropical forest on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama. We censused eighty-eight 0.09-ha plots scattered across the landscape. Environmental control, local dispersal and historical contingency were represented by environmental variables (soil moisture, slope, soil type, distance to shore, old-forest presence), a spatial autoregressive parameter (ρ), and four spatial trend variables, respectively. We built regression models, representing all combinations of the three hypotheses, for each species. The probability that the best model included the environmental variables, spatial trend variables and ρ averaged 33%, 64% and 50% across the study species, respectively. The environmental variables, spatial trend variables, ρ, and a simple intercept model received the strongest support for 4, 15, 5 and 2 species, respectively. Comparing the model results to information on species traits showed that species with strong spatial trends produced few and heavy diaspores, while species with strong soil moisture relationships were particularly drought-sensitive. In conclusion, history and local dispersal appeared to be the dominant controls of the distributions of common plant species on BCI.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2006 Cambridge University Press

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