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Natives and non-natives plants show different responses to elevation and disturbance on the tropical high Andes of Ecuador.

ABSTRACT: The aim was to assess patterns of plant diversity in response to elevation and disturbance in a tropical mountain. The study area was located in north-central portion of the Eastern Cordillera of the Ecuadorian Andes, on a road from 1,150 m a.s.l. (Osayacu) to 4,000 (Papallacta). Along a mountain road spanning a wide altitudinal gradient, at 20 elevations we sampled three plots: one at the roadside and two perpendicular to the roadside. The relationship between elevation and species richness was assessed using linear and quadratic regressions, the effect of disturbance on species richness was determined by ANCOVA and a t test with parameters obtained from quadratic equations. Similarity of species composition among the roadside and sites distant was evaluated with the Chao-Jaccard and classic Jaccard similarity indices, the distribution of non-native species according to their origin were analyzed with linear and quadratic regression. The native species showed a linearly monotonic decrease with elevation, whereas non-natives showed a quadratic distribution. Disturbed areas had the greatest number of non-native species and lower native species richness, showing also a high floristic similarity; less disturbed areas showed the opposite. The non-native species of temperate origin were more numerous and showed unimodal elevational distribution, while species of tropical origin were few and decreased linearly with elevation. We conclude that in a tropical highland mountain range, native and non-native plant species respond differently to elevation: native species exhibit a monotonically linear decrease, and non-native species show a unimodal trend. Disturbance positively affects non-native species showing higher richness and fewer species turnover. In addition, the non-native species are located along of the elevational gradient in relation to their biogeographic origin.

SUBMITTER: Sandoya V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5632626 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Natives and non-natives plants show different responses to elevation and disturbance on the tropical high Andes of Ecuador.

Sandoya Verónica V Pauchard Aníbal A Cavieres Lohengrin A LA

Ecology and evolution 20170830 19

The aim was to assess patterns of plant diversity in response to elevation and disturbance in a tropical mountain. The study area was located in north-central portion of the Eastern Cordillera of the Ecuadorian Andes, on a road from 1,150 m a.s.l. (Osayacu) to 4,000 (Papallacta). Along a mountain road spanning a wide altitudinal gradient, at 20 elevations we sampled three plots: one at the roadside and two perpendicular to the roadside. The relationship between elevation and species richness was ...[more]

PMID: 29043044

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Project description:1. The Andes are predicted to warm by 3-5 °C this century with the potential to alter the processes regulating carbon (C) cycling in these tropical forest soils. This rapid warming is expected to stimulate soil microbial respiration and change plant species distributions, thereby affecting the quantity and quality of C inputs to the soil and influencing the quantity of soil-derived CO2 released to the atmosphere. 2. We studied tropical lowland, premontane and montane forest soils taken from along a 3200-m elevation gradient located in south-east Andean Peru. We determined how soil microbial communities and abiotic soil properties differed with elevation. We then examined how these differences in microbial composition and soil abiotic properties affected soil C-cycling processes, by amending soils with C substrates varying in complexity and measuring soil heterotrophic respiration (RH). 3. Our results show that there were consistent patterns of change in soil biotic and abiotic properties with elevation. Microbial biomass and the abundance of fungi relative to bacteria increased significantly with elevation, and these differences in microbial community composition were strongly correlated with greater soil C content and C:N (nitrogen) ratios. We also found that RH increased with added C substrate quality and quantity and was positively related to microbial biomass and fungal abundance. 4. Statistical modelling revealed that RH responses to changing C inputs were best predicted by soil pH and microbial community composition, with the abundance of fungi relative to bacteria, and abundance of gram-positive relative to gram-negative bacteria explaining much of the model variance. 5. Synthesis. Our results show that the relative abundance of microbial functional groups is an important determinant of RH responses to changing C inputs along an extensive tropical elevation gradient in Andean Peru. Although we do not make an experimental test of the effects of climate change on soil, these results challenge the assumption that different soil microbial communities will be 'functionally equivalent' as climate change progresses, and they emphasize the need for better ecological metrics of soil microbial communities to help predict C cycle responses to climate change in tropical biomes.

Dataset Information

Natives and non-natives plants show different responses to elevation and disturbance on the tropical high Andes of Ecuador.

Publications

Natives and non-natives plants show different responses to elevation and disturbance on the tropical high Andes of Ecuador.

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