Patrones de distribución funcional de plantas en un bosque seco tropical de La Guajira, Colombia

Abstract

Recent studies on community assembly mechanisms that drive plant species in tropical forests have presented contrasting views on the predominance of biotic and abiotic selective forces at local scales. In this study, we investigated the influence of local topographic variations and the effects of functional density dependence on functional distribution patterns in a tropical dry forest (TDF). To do this, we measured leaf and wood traits of 87 species in a 10-hectare permanent plot and used topographic information to define local environmental variations. Additionally, we assessed the effects of density dependence using the effective nearest neighbor distance and used functional richness and dissimilarity indices to determine the relative importance of biotic and abiotic factors influencing community assembly. Our findings show that at a local scale, both topography and functional density dependence differentially affect the functional distribution of plant species in the TDF. Specifically, we found that: 1) the topographic gradient affects resource availability, with low functional richness and high functional dissimilarity observed at the extremes of this gradient, and 2) the low density of individuals and species is associated with low functional richness and high functional dissimilarity, but is strongly influenced by local topography.