The global abundance of tree palms (original) (raw)
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Arborescent palms can provide an important source of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) within tropical forest REDD+ frameworks. To identify the NTFP potential of arborescent palms, we examined mesoscale patterns of abundance and distribution within a sustainable-use protected area in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. To understand the environmental correlates of observed patterns we evaluated the effects of topography, hydrography and geographic space on the presence, density and biomass of adult arborescent palms. Adult palms were sampled in 30 (250 Â 20 m) plots systematically distributed within a 25-km 2 grid. Topographic and hydrographic variables were derived from a remotely sensed digital elevation model. Spatial correlations in the explanatory and response variables were examined using Mantel tests and GLMs. To test for evidence of dispersal limitation, semi-variograms were used to examine spatial patterns in GLM residuals. Adult arborescent palms were rare occurring in only 12 of the 30 plots. In total, we recorded 118 individuals from six species (Bactris maraja, Euterpe oleracea, Iriartella setigera, Oenocarpus bacaba, Oenocarpus bataua and Oenocarpus minor). This corresponded to a mean live aboveground biomass per plot of 0.85 Mg ha À1 (range: 0-28.1 Mg ha À1 ). Hydrographic and topographic variables suggest that environmental conditions are suitable for E. oleracea, an economically important species. The presence, biomass, and density of palms were uncorrelated with geographic distances among plots. The hydrographic model significantly explained variation in palm presence and biomass, whereas density was only explained by the topographic model. Our findings indicate that arborescent palms are currently too rare to be efficiently harvested as NTFPs in the study area. Yet, comparisons with published estimates suggest that there is significant potential for agroforestry to facilitate the commercialization of palm NTFPs for community based extractive activities.
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 2021
The study of plant species and trait distributions can provide answers to many of the ecological challenges of our times, from climate change to the biodiversity crisis. Although traits are classically measured at the species level, understanding intraspecific variation is necessary to determine the type of response species will have to climate change. Here we measured and analyzed seven leaf traits (leaf area-LA, specific leaf area-SLA, leaf thickness-LT, leaf dry mass content-LDMC, venation density-VD, stomata length-SL, and stomata density-SD) across 14 locally dominant palm species (10 individuals/species) distributed along hydro-topographic gradients (1.4-37 m of terrain height above nearest drainage) of a central Amazonian forest to disentangle the role of species identity, relatedness, and local hydrology on trait variation and covariation. Our results show that trait variation is not always larger between species than within species as expected. Intraspecific variation accounted for 23-74% of trait variation depending on the trait. Most of the variation happened at species level for SL, LA, LT, and SD but not for SLA, VD, and LDMC. For a third of the traits (LDMC, SLA, and SD), we found some evidence of phylogenetic inertia. This lack of independency among traits is confirmed by the maintenance of strong correlation among some of those traits after controlling for local environmental conditions. Intraspecific variation, however, was not related to height above nearest drainage for any of the traits. Most of the trait-environment relationships were species-specific. Therefore, the change in palm trait composition detected along topography, from higher community means of SLA and LA, lower LT, LDMC, SL, and SD in the wet valleys to opposite traits in drier plateaus, is mostly due to the turnover in species composition and relative abundance variation. We conclude these palm species have well-defined hydrological niches, but their large intraspecific variation in leaf traits does not contribute to the adjustment of individuals to the local hydrological conditions in this Amazonian forest.
We present allometric models to estimate total carbon content and above ground carbon (AGC) for the family Arecaceae, and for 7 abundant neotropical palm species (the canopy species Socratea exorrhiza and Iriartea deltoidea , the sub-canopy palm Euterpe precatoria , and the understory species Asterogyne martiana , Prestoea decurrens , Geonoma interrupta and Chamaedorea tepejilote ). The study was done in the tropical rainforests of the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica. We harvested 87 individuals of a wide range of sizes, and divided them into roots, stems, and leaves, weight their fresh and dry biomass, calculated the carbon content, tissue density, leaf area, and shoot:root ratios (based on biomass and carbon content). The general palm model estimating total carbon content accounted for 92% of the variation and had diameter at breast height, stem height, and dry mass fraction as predictor variables. We generated a similar model to estimate AGC, which included the same variables and e...
Revista de Biología Tropical
We studied the floristic composition of palm communities and their relation with soil nutrients in two localities of the Chocó biogeographic region to undestand (1) How soil nutrients vary between the two localities? (2) What is the relationship between soil nutrients and palm floristic composition? (3) What are the most important nutrients that explain the variation in floristic composition of palm communities? (4) How the abundance of the most abundant understory and canopy palm species varies along the concentration gradient of the most important nutrients? We established 20 transects (5 x 500 m) and identified all palm individuals of all growth stages. Soil samples were taken at each transect at the beginning, middle and end. Macronutrients (Al, Ca, Mg, K, P) were extracted with the Mehlich-III technique and their concentrations were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The concentration of nutrients was related to the floristic composition usi...
Annals of Botany, 2011
† Background The palm family occurs in all tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Palms are of high ecological and economical importance, and display complex spatial patterns of species distributions and diversity. † Scope This review summarizes empirical evidence for factors that determine palm species distributions, community composition and species richness such as the abiotic environment (climate, soil chemistry, hydrology and topography), the biotic environment (vegetation structure and species interactions) and dispersal. The importance of contemporary vs. historical impacts of these factors and the scale at which they function is discussed. Finally a hierarchical scale framework is developed to guide predictor selection for future studies. † Conclusions Determinants of palm distributions, composition and richness vary with spatial scale. For species distributions, climate appears to be important at landscape and broader scales, soil, topography and vegetation at landscape and local scales, hydrology at local scales, and dispersal at all scales. For community composition, soil appears important at regional and finer scales, hydrology, topography and vegetation at landscape and local scales, and dispersal again at all scales. For species richness, climate and dispersal appear to be important at continental to global scales, soil at landscape and broader scales, and topography at landscape and finer scales. Some scale -predictor combinations have not been studied or deserve further attention, e.g. climate on regional to finer scales, and hydrology and topography on landscape and broader scales. The importance of biotic interactions -apart from general vegetation structure effects -for the geographic ecology of palms is generally underexplored. Future studies should target scale -predictor combinations and geographic domains not studied yet. To avoid biased inference, one should ideally include at least all predictors previously found important at the spatial scale of investigation.
Acta Botanica Brasilica
Palms are most diverse in warm and humid regions near the equator. Though palms remain relatively well conserved, they are under increasing pressure from deforestation. Here, we analyze patterns of palm species richness relative to latitudinal gradient, sampling effort, and deforestation in the Amazon, and compare patterns of richness and floristic similarity among Amazonian sub-regions. We built a database of 17,310 records for 177 species. The areas with the greatest richness were in the western, central and northeastern Amazon, principally at latitudes 0-5ºS. Species richness and the number of records were highly correlated (R 2 =0.76, P<0.005). The highest rates of deforestation (>2000 km 2) were found in the southern and eastern Amazon of Brazil, which coincide with low richness and gaps in records. Similarity analyzes resulted in two groups of sub-regions: the first included the Amazon s.s., the Andes and the Guiana, while the second included the Plateau and Gurupi. We conclude that the highest species richness is at low latitudes, and observed richness is affected by sampling effort and is vulnerable to deforestation. Therefore, areas with low species richness, especially areas with data deficiency, need to be further studied for a better understanding of their patterns of diversity and richness.
Amazon palm biomass and allometry
Forest Ecology and Management, 2013
Palms (family Arecaceae) are abundant in Amazonian forests, but the allometry of these monocotyledonous plants remains poorly quantified. Woody palm biomass is most commonly estimated with dicotyledonous tree models, which leaves substantial uncertainty as to their true biomass and productivity. We developed the first extensive dataset of directly-measured arborescent palm biomass: 136 individuals from nine species in terra firme and wetland forests-Astrocaryum murumuru, Attalea phalerata, Bactris gasipaes, Euterpe precatoria, Iriartea deltoidea, Mauritia flexuosa, Mauritiella aculeata, Oenocarpus bataua, and Socratea exorrhiza. We created single species (n = 8-21) and family-level (n = 97-106) allometric equations, using diameter, stem height, total height, and stem dry mass fraction, to estimate (i) total aboveground biomass for all species, (ii) belowground biomass for the two wetland species (Mauritia and Mauritiella), and (iii) leaf mass for all species. These new palm models were then applied to nine 1-ha plots in the southwestern Amazon (Tambopata) to calculate the impact on forest biomass estimates once palm mass is estimated with palm-specific models, rather than from models created for dicot trees. We found that stem height was the best predictor variable for arborescent palm biomass, but the relationship between stem height and biomass differed among species. Most species showed weak biomass-diameter relationships, but a significant relationship could be identified across all species. The new palm models were better estimators of palm mass than existing dicot models. Using our species-level models increased estimates of palm biomass at our study site by 14-27 %, compared to using recently published pantropical biomass models for trees. In other forests, the effect of using these palm equations on biomass estimates will depend on palm sizes, abundance, and species composition.
Journal of Tropical Ecology, 2014
The mechanisms that maintain palm species diversity in tropical rain forests are still debated. Spatial variation in forest structure produces small-scale environmental heterogeneity, which in turn can affect plant survival and reproductive performance. An understanding of how palms respond to variation in forest heterogeneity may help to explain the diversity and structure of their assemblages. We used multivariate ordination statistics and multiple linear models to analyse how palm assemblages are affected by forest structure and landscape features in central Amazonia. In 72 (250 × 4 m) forest plots distributed over an area of 64 km 2 , we recorded all seedling and adult palms, and measured topographic and soil variables, and components of forest structure and tree abundance. We found 16 976 adults and 18 935 seedlings of 46 palm species and five varieties including two morphological forms making a total of 50 botanical entities. Results show that landscape features (altitude, slope, proportions of soil sand and clay) and various components of forest structure (such as degree of forest openness, abundance of forest trees, logs and snags, and leaf litter mass), influence spatial variation in richness, abundance and species composition of palms, creating ecological gradients in palm community composition. Despite the statistically significant effects of environmental variables, most species occurred throughout the full range of the ecological gradients we studied, indicating that there is either relatively weak niche specialization in the palms, or that the competition between the species is mediated by diffuse demographic processes that cannot be evaluated only through studies of species distributions.
2013
With 788 species in 67 genera in the Neotropics, Arecaceae are an important ecological and economic component of the region. We review the influence of geological events such as the Pebas system, the Andean uplift and the land connections between South and Central/North America, on the historical assembly of Neotropical palms. We present a case study of the palm genus Astrocaryum (40 species) as a model for evaluating colonization and diversification patterns of lowland Neotropical taxa. We conducted a Bayesian dated phylogenetic analysis based on four low-copy nuclear DNA regions and a biogeographical analysis using the dispersal, extinction and cladogenesis model. Cladogenesis of Western Amazonian Astrocaryum spp. (c. 6 Mya) postdated the drainage of the aquatic Pebas system, supporting the constraining role of Pebas on in situ diversification and colonization. The ancestral distribution of Astrocaryum spp. in the Guiana Shield supported the hypothesis of an old formation that acted as a source area from which species colonized adjacent regions, but an earliest branching position for Guianan species was not confidently recovered. A twofold increase in diversification rate was found in a clade, the ancestor of which occupied the Guiana Shield (c. 13 Mya, a time of climatic change and Andean uplift).
Genetic structuring in a Neotropical palm analyzed through an Andean orogenesis-scenario
Ecology and evolution, 2018
Andean orogenesis has driven the development of very high plant diversity in the Neotropics through its impact on landscape evolution and climate. The analysis of the intraspecific patterns of genetic structure in plants would permit inferring the effects of Andean uplift on the evolution and diversification of Neotropical flora. In this study, using microsatellite markers and Bayesian clustering analyses, we report the presence of four genetic clusters for the palm var. which are located within four biogeographic regions in northwestern South America: (a) Chocó rain forest, (b) Amotape-Huancabamba Zone, (c) northwestern Amazonian rain forest, and (d) southwestern Amazonian rain forest. We hypothesize that these clusters developed following three genetic diversification events mainly promoted by Andean orogenic events. Additionally, the distinct current climate dynamics among northwestern and southwestern Amazonia may maintain the genetic diversification detected in the western Amaz...