Plant Trait Assembly in Species-Rich Forests at Varying Elevations in the Northwest Andes of Colombia

Angélica Ochoa-Beltrán, Johanna Andrea Martínez-Villa, Peter G. Kennedy, Beatriz Salgado-Negret and Alvaro Duque
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Angélica Ochoa-Beltrán: Departamento de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín 050034, Colombia
Johanna Andrea Martínez-Villa: Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, QC H2L 2C4, Canada
Peter G. Kennedy: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA
Beatriz Salgado-Negret: Programa Ciencias Básicas de la Biodiversidad, Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Bogotá 111311, Colombia
Alvaro Duque: Departamento de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín 050034, Colombia

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 10, 1-15

Abstract: Andean forests are home to a strikingly high diversity of plants, making it difficult to understand the main drivers of species assembly. Trait-based approaches, however, help overcome some challenges associated with high taxonomic complexity, providing insights into the main drivers of species coexistence. Here, we evaluated the roles of climate, soil fertility, and symbiotic root associations on shaping the assembly of six plant functional traits (leaf area, specific leaf area, dry leaf matter content, leaf thickness, leaf toughness, and wood density) along an elevational gradient in the species-rich northwestern Andean forests of Colombia. The two main axes of the correspondence RLQ analysis explained 95.75% of the variability. The first axis was associated with the leaf economic spectrum, while the second axis with the tradeoff between growth and survival. Furthermore, the fourth corner method showed that both regional (climatic variables) and local factors (soil fertility, symbiotic root associations, and light distribution) played a key role in determining plant trait assembly. In summary, our study emphasizes the importance of considering both individual size and local factors to better understand drivers of plant trait assembly along environmental gradients.

Keywords: functional traits; environmental drivers; mycorrhizas; fourth corner; RLQ; Andean forests (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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