Biogeosciences Discussions www.biogeosciences-discuss.net 1810-6277 1810-6285 6 1 2009 10.5194/bgd-6-1421-2009 http://www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/6/1421/2009/ http://www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/6/1421/2009/bgd-6-1421-2009.html http://www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/6/1421/2009/bgd-6-1421-2009.pdf 1421 1451 2009-01-29 Integrating regional and continental scale comparisons of tree composition in Amazonian terra firme forests E. N. Honorio Coronado eurihc@yahoo.com T. R. Baker O. L. Phillips N. C. A. Pitman R. T. Pennington R. Vásquez Martínez A. Monteagudo H. Mogollón N. Dávila Cardozo M. Ríos R. García-Villacorta E. Valderrama M. Ahuite I. Huamantupa D. A. Neill W. F. Laurance H. E. M. Nascimento S. Soares de Almeida T. J. Killeen L. Arroyo P. Núñez L. Freitas Alvarado Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana, Av. A. José Quiñones km 2.5, Iquitos, Peru Ecology and Global Change, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK Center for Tropical Conservation, Duke University, Durham, USA Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20a Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5LR, UK Proyecto Flora del Perú, Jardín Botánico de Missouri, Oxapampa, Peru Finding Species, 6930 Carroll Ave., Suite 600, P.O. Box 5289, Takoma Park, Maryland 20912, USA Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana, Iquitos, Peru Missouri Botanical Garden, c/o Naturaleza y Cultura Internacional, Loja, Ecuador Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Manaus, Brazil Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, 66.040170 Belém, Pará, Brazil Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International, Washington D.C., USA Museo Noel Kempff Mercado, Santa Cruz, Bolivia Herbario Vargas, Universidad Nacional San Antonio Abad del Cusco, Cusco, Peru We contrast regional and continental-scale comparisons of the floristic composition of terra firme forest in South Amazonia, using 55 plots across Amazonia and a subset of 30 plots from northern Peru and Ecuador. Firstly, we examine the floristic patterns using both genus- or species-level data and find that the species-level analysis more clearly distinguishes different plot clusters. Secondly, we compare the patterns and causes of floristic differences at regional and continental scales. At a continental scale, ordination analysis shows that species of Lecythidaceae and Sapotaceae are gradually replaced by species of Arecaceae and Myristicaceae from eastern to western Amazonia. These floristic gradients are correlated with gradients in soil fertility and to dry season length, similar to previous studies. At a regional scale, similar patterns are found within north-western Amazonia, where differences in soil fertility distinguish plots where species of Lecythidaceae, characteristic of poor soils, are gradually replaced by species of Myristicaceae on richer soils. The main coordinate of this regional-scale ordination correlates mainly with concentrations of available calcium and magnesium. Thirdly, we ask at a regional scale within north-western Amazonia, whether soil fertility or other distance dependent processes are more important for determining variation in floristic composition. A Mantel test indicates that both soils and geographical distance have a similar and significant role in determining floristic similarity across this region. Overall, these results suggest that regional-scale variation in floristic composition can rival continental scale differences within Amazonian terra firme forests, and that variation in floristic composition at both scales is dependent on a range of processes that include both habitat specialisation related to edaphic conditions and other distance-dependent processes. 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