towards an understanding of tree diversity in amazonian forests

167 Pages·2011·9.73 MB·English

T
OWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF TREE DIVERSITY

A
IN MAZONIAN FORESTS
The research presented in this thesis was carried out at the Ecology & Biodiversity Group
of the Institute of Environmental Science, Utrecht University, with financial support from:

Project for the Advancement of Networked science in Amazonia
“PAN-AMAZONIA” - EU Sixth Framework Programme (2002-2006)

Programa BECA – ‘Instituto Internacional de Educação do Brasil’ and
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq),
Ministry of Science and Technology, Brazil

Copyrights © 2011, Juliana Stropp
All rights reserved.

Cover design: Tito Fernandes

Picture cover: Canopy view of a terra-firme forest at Pico da Neblina National Park,
São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Brazil (Photograph by Peter van der Sleen)

Printing: Proefschriftmaken.nl

ISBN: 978-90-393-5526-8
T
OWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF TREE DIVERSITY

IN AMAZONI AN FORESTS

OORZAKEN VAN BOOMDIVERSITEIT IN DE AMAZONE
(met een samenvatting in het Nederlands)

ENTENDENDO DIVERSIDADE DE ÁRVORES DAS FLORESTAS DA AMAZÔNIA
(com resumo em Português)

Proefschrift

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector
magnificus, prof. dr. J.C. Stoof, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het
openbaar te verdedigen op maandag 21 maart 2011 des middags te 4.15 uur

door

Juliana Stropp Carneiro

geboren op 5 december 1975 te Campinas, Brazilie
Promotor: Prof.dr. M. J. A. Werger

Co-promotor: Dr. Hans ter Steege
Para minha mãe, Marilde Stropp

C
ONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 9

2 DISENTANGLING REGIONAL AND LOCAL TREE DIVERSITY IN AMAZONIA ..................... 17

3 TREE COMMUNITIES OF WHITE-SAND AND TERRA-FIRME FORESTS OF THE
UPPER RIO NEGRO ..................................................................................... 31

4 SEEDLING TRAITS AND HERBIVORY IN WHITE-SAND AND TERRA-FIRME FORESTS:
AN ANALYSIS ACROSS A RESOURCE GRADIENT IN THE UPPER RIO NEGRO, BRAZIL ........ 47

5 COMPARING TREE COMMUNITIES OF WHITE-SAND AND TERRA-FIRME FORESTS
ACROSS THREE AMAZONIAN REGIONS ............................................................. 71

6 DISCUSSION AND PERSPECTIVES .................................................................... 95

REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 105
APPENDIX 1: TREE SPECIES REGISTERED IN THE UPPER RIO NEGRO .......................... 121
APPENDIX 2: ATTRIBUTES OF TREE INVENTORY PLOTS .......................................... 135
APPENDIX 3: REFERENCES TO PLOT DATA ......................................................... 143
SUMMARY ............................................................................................... 145
SAMENVATTING ......................................................................................... 149
RESUMO .................................................................................................. 153
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................. 157
CURRICULUM VITAE .................................................................................... 161
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS ................................................................................. 163
AFFILIATIONS OF CO-AUTHORS ....................................................................... 165

1
I
NTRODUCTION

Amazonian forests arguably harbor the highest biodiversity of all terrestrial ecosystems on
Earth. Both the origin of this extraordinary biodiversity and its current distribution are
recently becoming better understood (ter Steege et al., 2003, Hoorn and Wesselingh, 2010).
Processes such as long-term landscape evolution and climate change have been identified as
important drivers of speciation and extinction, thus shaping the current patterns of
biodiversity in Amazonian forests (Hoorn et al., 2010). Still, our knowledge about the
relative contribution of processes operating at different spatial and temporal scales to the
tree diversity in Amazonia remains surprisingly limited. Obtaining new scientific insight
requires foremost collecting and analyzing additional empirical data. This thesis addresses
parts of the existing knowledge gaps by presenting new data of tree inventory plots and by
analyzing these in an integrated manner with previously established plots. The thesis
thereby aims at deepening our understanding of the tree diversity in Amazonian forests and
the ecological mechanisms shaping its current pattern at a local and regional scale.

HISTORY OF AMAZONIAN FORESTS
Forests have been a permanent feature in Amazonia for the past 55 million years (Ma)
(Morley, 2000, Maslin et al., 2005). Throughout its history, Amazonia has experienced
dynamic changes in its landscape and climate (Hoorn et al., 2010). Four important historical
events have strongly contributed to the current pattern of diversity: a long period of
isolation, the Andean uplift, the closing of the Panama isthmus, and changes in global
climate (Fig. 1.1) (Burnham and Graham, 1999, Hoorn et al., 2010). This section shortly
describes each of these historical events and discusses their impacts on the evolution of tree
species diversity in Amazonia.

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Chapter 1

A D

B E

C F

Figure 1.1: Palaeogeographic maps (A – E) and present configuration of Amazonia (F).
A: rainforest diversification in the northern Andes; uplift of the central and northern Andes;
a major drainage divide is located in eastern Amazonia; B: intermediately/moderately
diverse rainforest in the northern Andes; the onset of the uplift of the northern Andes
coincides with a period of a tropical wet climate with an intense dry season in western
Amazonia; the major drainage divide is now located in central-eastern Amazonia; C: diverse
rainforest in northwestern Amazonia; continued uplift of the central and northern Andes;
origin of the Pebas megawetland in western Amazonia; the major drainage divide moves to
central-eastern Amazonia; D: diverse rainforest in western Amazonia; diversification of
sub-Andean forest; the accelerated uplift of central Andes and northern Andes promotes
the establishment of a transcontinental Amazon drainage system; E: diverse rainforest in
western Amazonia and disappearance of Amazonian biota in northern Venezuela; the
strongly concerted uplift of the entire Andes and a dynamic low-relief river systems of
western Amazonia favor the Andean derived nutrients spread over eastern Amazonia; the
closure of the Panama isthmus promotes exchange of biota between North and South
America (‘Great American Biotic Interchange’ - GABI); F: diverse rainforest, especially in
western Amazonia; present configuration of Amazonia. Note that shield areas are
geologically stable over the last 55 Ma. Modified after Hoorn and Wesselingh (2010) and
Hoorn et al. (2010).
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