scholarly journals Tipos de vegetación y diversidad β en el Valle de Zapotitlán de las Salinas, Puebla, México

2017 ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Oscar Osorio-Beristain ◽  
Alfonso Valiente-Banuet ◽  
Patricia Dávila ◽  
Rosalinda Medina

The Zapotitlán de las Salinas Valley located in the South Western portion of the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, harbors a high plant diversity with a high proportion of endemism. In this study we describe the different plant communities along an altitudinal gradient between 1350 to 1700 meters above the sea level, in the vicinities of the Cerro Cutá, emphasizing on the differential species distribution among communities (β diversity). The plant communities description was conducted considering the different geomorphic surfaces (slopes with different Iithologies, altitudes and aspects, alluvial deposits along the Salado River and flat zones on the top of hills) and they were described by means of field samplings analyzing their structure and composition . The vegetation-type diversity is associated to soil and lithological heterogeneity in the study site producing a mosaic of plant communities in which a total species turnover of 71.3% indicates a high number of species restricted to different vegetation types. This high β diversity contributes to the high regional diversity (y-diversity) reported for the Zapotitlán Valley.

2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corrado Battisti ◽  
Marco Giardini ◽  
Francesca Marini ◽  
Lorena Di Rocco ◽  
Giuseppe Dodaro ◽  
...  

We reported a study on breeding birds occurring inside an 80 m-deep karst sinkhole, with the characterization of the assemblages recorded along its semi-vertical slopes from the upper edge until the bottom. The internal sides of the sinkhole have been vertically subdivided in four belts about 20 m high. The highest belt (at the upper edge of the cenote) showed the highest values in mean number of bird detections, mean and normalized species richness, and Shannon diversity index. The averaged values of number of detections and species richness significantly differ among belts. Species turnover (Cody’s β-diversity) was maximum between the highest belts. Whittaker plots showed a marked difference among assemblages shaping from broken-stick model to geometric series, and explicited a spatial progressive stress with a disruption in evenness towards the deepest belts. Bird assemblages evidenced a nested subset structure with deeper belts containing successive subsets of the species occurring in the upper belts. We hypothesize that, at least during the daytime in breeding season, the observed non-random distribution of species along the vertical stratification is likely due to (i) the progressive simplification both of the floristic composition and vegetation structure, and (ii) the paucity of sunlight as resources from the upper edge to the inner side of the cenote.


Koedoe ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
G.J. Bredenkamp ◽  
H. Bezuidenhout

A procedure for the effective classification of large phytosociological data sets, and the combination of many data sets from various parts of the South African grasslands is demonstrated. The procedure suggests a region by region or project by project treatment of the data. The analyses are performed step by step to effectively bring together all releves of similar or related plant communities. The first step involves a separate numerical classification of each subset (region), and subsequent refinement by Braun- Blanquet procedures. The resulting plant communities are summarised in a single synoptic table, by calculating a synoptic value for each species in each community. In the second step all communities in the synoptic table are classified by numerical analysis, to bring related communities from different regions or studies together in a single cluster. After refinement of these clusters by Braun-Blanquet procedures, broad vegetation types are identified. As a third step phytosociological tables are compiled for each iden- tified broad vegetation type, and a comprehensive abstract hierarchy constructed.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shinichi Tatsumi ◽  
Joachim Strengbom ◽  
Mihails Čugunovs ◽  
Jari Kouki

ABSTRACTChanges in species diversity often result from species losses and gains. The dynamic nature of beta diversity (i.e., spatial variation in species composition) that derives from such temporal species turnover, however, has been largely overlooked. Here, we disentangled extinction and colonization components of beta diversity by using the sets of species that went locally extinct and that newly colonized the given sites. We applied this concept of extinction and colonization beta diversity to plant communities that have been repeatedly measured in experimentally disturbed forests. We first found no difference in beta diversity across disturbance gradients when it was analyzed for communities at a single point in time. From this result, we might conclude that disturbance caused no impact on how species assemble across space. However, when we analyzed the extinction and colonization beta diversity, both measures were found to be significantly lower in disturbed sites compared to undisturbed sites. These results indicate that disturbance removed similar subsets of species across space, making communities differentiate, but at the same time induced spatially uniform colonization of new species, causing communities to homogenize. Consequently, the effects of these two processes canceled each other out. The relative importance of extinction and colonization components per se also changed temporally after disturbance. Analyses using extinction and colonization beta diversity allowed us to detect nonrandom dis- and re-assembly dynamics in plant communities. Our results suggest that common practices of analyzing beta diversity at one point in time can mask significant variation driven by disturbance. Acknowledging the extinction–colonization dynamics behind beta diversity is essential for understanding the spatiotemporal organization of biodiversity.


Author(s):  
Debra P. C. Peters ◽  
Robert P. Gibbens

Plant communities of the Jornada Basin are characteristic of the northern Chihuahuan Desert both in structure and dynamics. Although a number of plant communities can be differentiated, five major vegetation types are often distinguished that differ in plant species cover and composition, as well as other factors, such as animal populations, soil properties, and elevation. These five types are black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda) grasslands, playa grasslands, tarbush (Flourensia cernua) shrublands, creosotebush (Larrea tridentata) shrublands, and mesquite (Prosopis grandulosa) shrublands. Similar to many other parts of the Chihuahuan Desert, these plant communities have experienced major shifts in vegetation composition over the past 50–150 years (York and Dick-Peddie 1969). The most dramatic changes in vegetation and associated ecosystem processes have occurred as a result of a shift in life form due to woody plant encroachment into perennial grasslands (Grover and Musick 1990; Bahre and Shelton 1993). This encroachment of shrubs has occurred in many arid and semiarid regions of the world, including the Western United States, northern Mexico, southern Africa, South America, New Zealand, and Australia (McPherson 1997; Scholes and Archer 1997). A number of drivers have been implicated in these grass–shrub dynamics, including various combinations of livestock grazing, small animal activity, drought, changes in fire regime, and changes in climate (Humphrey 1958; Archer 1989; Allred 1996; Reynolds et al. 1997; Van Auken 2000). The causes of shrub invasion are quite variable and often poorly understood, although the consequences consistently lead to the process of desertification (Schlesinger et al. 1990). This chapter describes the characteristics of each vegetation type and the documented changes in each type at the Jornada Basin. We then discuss the key drivers influencing these dynamics. Vegetation in the Chihuahuan Desert region has been classified as desert-grassland transition (Shreve 1917), desert savanna (Shantz and Zon 1924), desert plains grasslands (Clements 1920), desert shrub grassland (Darrow 1944), and shrubsteppe (Kuchler 1964). Desert grassland is often used as a general descriptive name for the area (McClaran 1995), although landscapes at the Jornada and throughout the northern Chihuahuan Desert often consist of a mosaic of desert grasslands, Chihuahuan Desert shrublands, and plains-mesa sand scrub (Dick-Peddie 1993).


Geosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1457-1478
Author(s):  
Brad D. Sion ◽  
Fred M. Phillips ◽  
Gary J. Axen ◽  
J. Bruce J. Harrison ◽  
David W. Love ◽  
...  

Abstract The Rio Grande rift hosts a remarkable record of Quaternary river incision preserved in an alluvial terrace sequence that has been studied for more than a century. However, our understanding of Rio Grande incision history in central New Mexico since the end of basin filling ca. 0.78 Ma remains hampered by poor age control. Robust correlations among Rio Grande terrace sequences in central and southern New Mexico are lacking, making it difficult to address important process-related questions about terrace formation in continental-scale river systems. We present new age controls using a combination of 40Ar/39Ar, 36Cl surface-exposure, and 14C dating techniques from alluvial deposits in the central New Mexico Socorro area to document the late Quaternary incision history of the Rio Grande. These new age controls (1) provide constraints to establish a firm foundation for Socorro basin terrace stratigraphy, (2) allow terrace correlations within the rift basin, and (3) enable testing of alternative models of terrace formation. We identified and mapped a high geomorphic surface interpreted to represent the end of basin filling in the Socorro area and five distinct, post–Santa Fe Group (ca. 0.78 Ma) alloformations and associated geomorphic surfaces using photogrammetric methods, soil characterization, and stratigraphic descriptions. Terrace deposits exhibit tread heights up to 70 m above the valley floor and are 5 to >30 m thick. Their fills generally have pebble-to-cobble bases overlain by fine-to-pebbly sand and local thin silt and clay tops. Alluvial-fan terraces and associated geomorphic surfaces grade to former valley levels defined by axial terrace treads. Carbon-14 ages from detrital charcoal above and below a buried tributary terrace tread show that the most recent aggradation event persisted until ca. 3 ka during the transition from glacial to modern climate conditions. Drill-log data show widespread valley fill ∼30 m thick that began aggrading after glacial retreat in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado (ca. 14 ka). Aggradation during this transition was likely due to hillslope destabilization, increased sediment yield, decreased runoff, and reduced stream competence. Chlorine-36 ages imply similar controls on earlier terraces that have surface ages of ca. 27–29, 64–70, and 135 ka, and suggest net incision during glacial expansions when increased runoff favored down-cutting and bedload mobilization. Our terrace chronology supports existing climate-response models of arid environments and links tributary responses to the axial Rio Grande system throughout the central Rio Grande rift. The terrace chronology also reflects a transition from modest (60 m/m.y.) to rapid (300 m/m.y.) incision between 610 and 135 ka, similar to patterns observed throughout the Rio Grande rift and the western United States in general.


2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (5) ◽  
pp. 954 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Stenert ◽  
Bruna Ehlert ◽  
Arthur Cardoso Ávila ◽  
Francisco Diogo Rocha Sousa ◽  
Fernanda Mara Esquinatti ◽  
...  

Exotic pine invasion affects native wetland communities in the Southern Hemisphere by changing the hydrological regimen and physicochemical characteristics. Studies evaluating the emergence of aquatic invertebrates from dormant stages are vital to identify the resilience of aquatic communities in ponds invaded by exotic pine species. In the present study, we tested the hypotheses that: (1) pine invasion decreases the richness of drought-resistant aquatic invertebrates in ponds; (2) pine invasion modifies the invertebrate composition in ponds; and (3) these differences in species composition (β diversity) are associated primarily with species turnover. Dry sediment samples were collected from three natural ponds in native grassland and three ponds in a pine invasion matrix in southern Brazil. In all, 7205 invertebrates, primarily represented by cladocerans (18 species), were sampled after rewetting dry sediments. Pine invasion decreased the richness of aquatic invertebrates because the natural ponds had almost 60% more species and a higher number of estimated species than the pine ponds. The composition differed between natural and pine ponds, and this difference in species composition (β diversity) was associated primarily with the replacement of some species by others. The presence of pine appears to alter colonisation and survival rates of aquatic invertebrates that aestivate in dry sediments in southern Brazil wetlands.


Insects ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zsolt Tóth ◽  
Elisabeth Hornung

Urbanization, as a major cause of local species extinction and biotic homogenization, drastically alters soil life. Millipedes are a key group of soil macrodetritivores and significantly influence soil quality, mainly through their essential role in nutrient cycling. Therefore, studying their taxonomic and functional responses to urban disturbance is crucial, as they contribute to the provision of several soil-related ecosystem services in cities. Differently degraded rural, urban forests and other woody patches (e.g., parks, gardens, and cemeteries) were sampled on Buda and Pest sides of the Budapest metropolitan area divided by the Danube River. We measured the most relevant physical and chemical properties of topsoil to characterize habitats. We applied an urbanization index based on vegetation cover and built-up area of the study sites to quantify urban intensity. The composition of the assemblages was determined by the division of the city along the Danube. Urbanization was associated with a reduction in species and functional richness of millipedes on both sides of Budapest. β diversity and species turnover increased with urban intensity. Urban disturbance was the main driver in assembly of taxonomic and functional community composition. A new species (Cylindroiulus caeruleocinctus (Wood, 1864)) to the fauna of Budapest was found. Detritivore invertebrates depend on leaf litter and other dead organic matter types, therefore microsites providing these resources greatly improve their survival. Due to increasing urban disturbance, it is recommended to provide appropriate detritus and shelter sites as part of the management of green spaces in order to maintain species richness, abundance, and function of species.


Author(s):  
David M. Parry ◽  
Michael A. Kendall ◽  
Ashley A. Rowden ◽  
Stephen Widdicombe

Species body size spectra have been constructed for macrofauna assemblages from four sites with contrasting sediment granulometry and heterogeneity in and around Plymouth Sound. The number of species and species turnover (β diversity) were higher on coarse sediment. While the fauna were distinct between sites, the median geometric size-class was conservative (class 14; 0.153–0.305 mg dry blotted weight). Only one site had significantly lower heterogeneity within the species size spectrum, yet this was the most heterogeneous sediment. As such, we were unable to reject the null hypothesis that species body size distribution patterns are conservative despite differences in sediment granulometry and heterogeneity.


2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Reilly ◽  
Michael C. Wimberly ◽  
Claire L. Newell

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