Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T15:26:50.719Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Floristic and structural changes during old-field succession in the Mexican tropics in relation to site history and species availability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Silvia E. Purata
Silvia E. Purata
Affiliation:
Institute of Ecological Botany, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Community patterns along a successional sequence of abandoned fields within a tropical rain forest environment are described in terms of floristic composition and structure. Temporal patterns were summarized and main axes of variation extracted by multivariate methods.

External factors – length of cropping period, regrowth age, and proportion of the perimeter occupied by forest communities or remnants (here called forested perimeter) – were related to floristic and structural data on 40 sites. Multivariate direct gradient analysis showed overall floristic development to be positively related to regrowth age and forested perimeter, and negatively related to length of cropping period.

Structural development was shown by multiple regression to be positively related to regrowth age and negatively to length of cropping period; but forested perimeter had no significant relation to site structure. The type of crop grown showed no significant relation with floristic or structural development of the regrowth.

These results indicate that the conditions of the vegetation around a site have a great effect on community recovery, particularly in its species composition, whilst structure seems to be affected more directly by parameters which imply time.

Resumen

Se describe la composición florística y la estructura en una serie de comunidades que representan una secuencia sucesional en cuarenta terrenos agrícolas y pastizales abandonados.

Los datos florísticos y estructurales de las comunidades fueron relacionados con algunos factores extemos tales como la duración del período de cultivo, el período de abandono y la proporción del perímetro del sitio ocupado por selvas o comunidades arboreas derivadas de esta.

Un análisis multivariado directo de gradientes, demostró que los cambios florísticos estan relacionados positivamente con el tiempo de abandono y el contacto con comunidades forestales y negativamente relacionado con la duración del período de cultivo.

Por medio de regresión múltiple se demostró que el desarrollo estructural está positivamente relacionado con el período de abandono y negativamente con la duración del período de cultivo; el contacto con comunidades forestales no tuvo sin embargo, relación significativa con la estructura de las comunidades. El tipo de cultivo previo al abandono tampoco mostró tener relación significativa con la composición florística o con la estructura.

Los resultados indican que la vegetatión que rodea a los campos abandonados tiene gran influencia en la secuencia sucesional, particularmente en lo que se reflere a la composición florística, mientras que la estructura parece estar mas directamente afectada por el período de abandono.

Keywords

direct gradient analysisdisturbanceMexicomultivariate methodssecondary successionspecies availabilitytropical rain forest
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , August 1986 , pp. 257 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Austin, M. P. 1977, Use of ordination and other multivariate descriptive methods to study succession. Vegetatio 35:165–175.Google Scholar
Brinkmann, W. L. F. & Vieira, A. N. 1971. The effect of burning on germination of seeds at different soil depths of various tropical tree species. Turrialba 21:77–82.Google Scholar
Connell, J. H. & Slatyer, R. O. 1977. Mechanisms of succession in natural communities and their role in community stability and organization. American Naturalist 111:1119–1144.Google Scholar
Crow, T. R. & Grigal, D. F. 1979. A numerical analysis of arborescent communities in the rain forest of the Luquillo mountains, Puerto Rico. Vegetatio 40:135–140.Google Scholar
De Foresta, H. 1983. Heterogeneite de la végétation pionniere en forêt tropicale humide: exemple d'une coupe papetiere en fôret guyanaise. Acta Oecologica Oecologia Applicata 4:221–235.Google Scholar
Denslow, J. S. 1980. Patterns of plant species diversity during succession under different disturbance regimes. Oecologia (Berl.) 46:18–21.Google Scholar
Gomez-Pompa, A., Vazquez-Yanes, C. & Guevara, S. 1972. The tropical rain forest: a nonrenewable resource. Science 177:762–765.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gomez-Pompa, A. & Vazquez-Yanes, C. 1980. Successional studies of a rain forest in Mexico. Pp. 246–266 in West, D. C.Shugart, H. H. & Botkin, D. B. (eds). Forest succession. Springer-Verlag, New York.Google Scholar
Grime, J. P. 1977. Evidence for the existence of three primary strategies in plants and its relevance to ecological and evolutionary theory. American Naturalist 111:1169–1194.Google Scholar
Guevara, S. 1986. Plant species availability and regeneration in Mexican tropical rain forest. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Uppsala University, Sweden.Google Scholar
Halle, F., Oldeman, R. A. A. & Tomlinson, P. B. 1978. Tropical trees and forests. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Hill, M. O. 1971a. DECORANA – A FORTRAN program for Detrended Correspondence Analysis and Reciprocal Averaging. Ithica N.Y.Cornell University.Google Scholar
Hill, M. O. 1979b. TWINSPAN – A FORTRAN Program for arranging multivariate data in an ordered two-way table by classification of the individuals and attributes. Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.Google Scholar
Hill, M. O. – Gauch, H. G. 1980. Detrended correspondence analysis, an improved ordination technique. Vegetatio 42:47–58.Google Scholar
Kostermans, A. J. G. K. 1960. The influence of man on the vegetation of the humid tropics. Pp. 332–338 in UNESCO Symposium on the impact of man on humid tropics vegetation, Goroka, TPNG, September, 1960. Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra.Google Scholar
Macarthur, R. H. & Wilson, E. O. 1967. The theory of island biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton.Google Scholar
Malanson, G. P. 1984. Intensity as a third factor of disturbance regime and its effect on species diversity. Oikos 43:533–536.Google Scholar
Miller, T. E. 1982. Community diversity and interactions between the size and frequency of disturbance. American Naturalist 120:533–536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Opler, P. A., Baker, H. G. ' Frankie, G. W. 1975. Recovery of tropical lowland forest ecosystems. Pp. 379–421 in Cairns, J. Jr, Dickson, K. L. & Herricks, E. E. (eds). Recovery and restoration of damaged ecosystems. University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville.Google Scholar
Purata, S. E. 1986a. Studies on secondary succession in Mexican tropical rain forest. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Uppsala University, Sweden.Google Scholar
Purata, S. E. 1986b. Transect analysis as a basis for comparing stages of old-field succession in a tropical rain forest area in Mexico. Tropical Ecology (in press).Google Scholar
Shugart, H. H. & Seagle, S. W. 1985. Modeling forest landscapes and the role of disturbance in ecosystems and communites. Pp. 353–368 in Pickett, S. T. A. & White, P. S. (eds). Natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Ter Braak, C. J. F. 1985. CANOCO – Canonical Correspondence Analysis: a new eigenvector technique for multivariate direct gradient analysis. IWIS-TNO, Wageningens. 29 pp.Google Scholar
Uhl, C., Clark, K., Clark, H. & Murphy, P. 1981. Early plant succession after cutting and burning in the upper Rio Negro region of the Amazon basin. Journal of Ecology 69:631–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhl, C., Clark, H., Clark, K. & Maquirino, P. 1982. Successional patterns associated with slash-and-burn agriculture in the upper Rio Negro region of the Amazon basin. Biotropica 14:249–254.Google Scholar
Van Der Maarel, E. 1969. On the use of ordination models in phytosociology. Vegetatio 19:21–46.Google Scholar
Vazquez-Yanes, C. 1980. Notas sobre la autoecologia de los arboles pioneros de rapido crecimiento de la selva tropical lluviosa. Tropical Ecology 21:103–111.Google Scholar
Webb, L. J., Tracey, G. J., Williams, W. T. & Lance, G. N. 1967. Studies in the numerical analysis of complex rain-forest communities I. A comparison of methods applicable to site/species data. Journal of Ecology 55:171–191.Google Scholar
Weinstein, D. A. & Shugart, H. H. 1983. Ecological modeling of landscape dynamics. Pp. 29–45 in Mooney, H. A. & Godron, M. (eds). Disturbance and ecosystems. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Whitmore, T. C. 1983. Secondary succession from seed in tropical rain forest. Forestry Abstracts 44:767–779.Google Scholar
Williams, W. T., Lance, G. N., Webb, L. J., Tracey, J. G. & Dale, M. B. 1969. Studies in the numerical analysis of complex rain-forest communities. III. The analysis of successional data. Journal of Ecology 57:515–535.Google Scholar