Tree diversity in the northern neotropics regional patterns in highly diverse Chiapas, Mexico
Physical factors that may account for regional patterns of plant species diversity remain controversial. We aim to determine the relationship of tree species diversity to environmental factors identifiable at regional scale in the northern Neotropics. We use a high-resolution data set based on herbarium collections of all native tree species known to occur in the highly diverse and physiographically heterogeneous Mexican state of Chiapas. We analyzed 114 grid cells (5 min latitude×5 min longitude each) with 40 or more vouchers. We obtained from maps (scale 1:250 000) data on temperature, rainfall, elevation, and soils, and calculated for each grid cell mean actual evapotranspiration (AET), its ratio during the rainy and dry seasons (RET), average fertility/quality of soils (SFQ), and elevation (coarse-scale topography) variance (SDE). These variables were largely independent of each other, and were entered in multiple regression models to predict species diversity assessed with Simpson's index of concentration.
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Texto biblioteca |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | Bosques tropicales, Árboles forestales, Conservación de la diversidad biológica, |
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