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| Beta-diversity in tropical forest trees |
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| Author(s): Condit R, Pitman N, Leigh EG, Chave J, Terborgh J, Foster RB, Nunez P, Aguilar S, Valencia R, Villa G, Muller-Landau HC, Losos E, Hubbell SP |
| Source: SCIENCE Volume: 295 Issue: 5555 Pages: 666-669 Published: JAN 25 2002 |
| Times Cited: 329 References: 17 |
| Abstract: The high alpha-diversity of tropical forests has been amply documented, but beta-diversity-how species composition changes with distance has seldom been studied. We present quantitative estimates of beta-diversity for tropical trees by comparing species composition of plots in lowland terra firme forest in Panama, Ecuador, and Peru. We compare observations with predictions derived from a neutral model in which habitat is uniform and only dispersal and speciation influence species turnover. We find that beta-diversity is higher in Panama than in western Amazonia and that patterns in both areas are inconsistent with the neutral model. In Panama, habitat variation appears to increase species turnover relative to Amazonia, where unexpectedly tow turnover over great distances suggests that population densities of some species are bounded by as yet unidentified processes. At intermediate scales in both regions, observations can be matched by theory, suggesting that dispersal limitation, with speciation, influences species turnover. |
| Document Type: Article |
| Language: English |
| Reprint Address: Condit, R (reprint author), Smithsonian Trop Res Inst, Ctr Trop Forest Sci, Unit 0948, APO, AA 34002 USA |
Addresses:
1. Smithsonian Trop Res Inst, Ctr Trop Forest Sci, Unit 0948, APO, AA 34002 USA
2. Duke Univ, Ctr Trop Conservat, Durham, NC 27708 USA
3. Univ Toulouse 2, CNRS, UMR 5552, Lab Ecol Terr, F-31029 Toulouse, France
4. Field Museum Nat Hist, Dept Bot, Chicago, IL 60605 USA
5. Univ Nacl San Antonio de Abad, Herbario Vargas, Cuzco, Peru
6. Pontificia Univ Catolica del Ecuador, Dept Biol Sci, Quito, Ecuador
7. Princeton Univ, Dept Ecol & Evolut Biol, Princeton, NJ 08544 USA
8. Smithsonian Inst, Ctr Trop Forest Sci, Washington, DC 20560 USA
9. Univ Georgia, Dept Bot, Athens, GA 30602 USA |
| Publisher: AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE, 1200 NEW YORK AVE, NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20005 USA |
| Subject Category: Multidisciplinary Sciences |
| IDS Number: 516PD |
| ISSN: 0036-8075 |
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