Distance-decay differs among vertical strata in a tropical rainforest

The Journal of Animal Ecology
Edmund W BashamBrett R Scheffers

Abstract

Assemblage similarity decays with geographic distance-a pattern known as the distance-decay relationship. While this pattern has been investigated for a wide range of organisms, ecosystems and geographical gradients, whether these changes vary more cryptically across different forest strata (from ground to canopy) remains elusive. Here, we investigated the influence of ground vs. arboreal assemblages to the general distance-decay relationship observed in forests. We seek to explain differences in distance-decay relationships between strata in the context of the vertical stratification of assemblage composition, richness and abundance. We surveyed for a climate-sensitive model organism, amphibians, across vertical rainforest strata in Madagascar. For each tree, we defined assemblages of ground-dwelling, understory, or canopy species. We calculated horizontal distance-decay in similarity across all trees, and across assemblages of species found in different forest strata (ground, understory and canopy). We demonstrate that within stratum comparisons exhibit a classic distance-decay relationship for canopy and understory communities but no distance-decay relationships for ground communities. We suggest that differences in horizont...Continue Reading

Associated Datasets

Aug 20, 2018·Lydou R. AndriamahohatraChrista M. Seidl

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Citations

Oct 22, 2020·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Sebastián MenaMaría F Checa
Mar 17, 2021·Global Change Biology·Pieter De FrenneKristoffer Hylander

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