Environmental changes in biodiversity hotspot ecosystems of
South Ecuador: RESPonse and feedback effECTs (FOR2730)

Abstract:

Although fine root traits are crucially important for plants and ecosystems, little is known about the mechanisms driving their variation. According to the theory of the plant economics spectrum, plants have to adopt a consistent strategy for all organs on a one-dimensional axis from slow to fast nutrient acquisition. The different strategies are supposed to be reflected in fine root traits, and to vary with resource availability. This master’s thesis aimed to investigate the variation of tree fine root traits along a topographical gradient in southern Ecuador, and their coordination with aboveground traits, in order to find evidence for a plant economics spectrum. In a tropical montane forest near Loja, fine root systems (diameter < 2 mm) of 179 adult trees were sampled from 18 plots at different slope positions. The steep slopes in this megadiverse ecosystem are characterized by decreasing fertility from the lower to the upper slope, and a high turnover of tree species on small scales along the slopes. The traits root diameter, specific root length (SRL), root tissue density (RTD), root branching intensity (RBI) and nitrogen content (N root ) were measured on each root system. The root traits were tested for being correlated with a topography index, edaphic factors, and aboveground traits. These relationships were analyzed both on the level of plot means and individual trees. Moreover, functional dispersion of the root traits was calculated for each plot and related to the topographical gradient. Pagel’s ? was calculated as an indicator of phylogenetic signal for each root trait. Furthermore, mixed effect models and principal component analyses were calculated in order to better understand the complex relationships between environment, plant traits, and phylogeny. Fine roots tended to be thicker and less intensely branched, contain less nitrogen and have lower SRL with increasing distance from the lower slope. Functional dispersion decreased from lower to upper slope. Especially SRL and N root were closely linked to aboveground traits. Trees with high SRL and N root tended to have softer wood and leaves, higher specific leaf area and higher leaf N and P concentrations. These trends were also apparent when comparing plot means instead of data from tree individuals. This indicates that trees evolved consistent resource economic strategies that manifest in their fine roots, wood, and leaves. Species with a slow, conservative strategy are typical for the upper slopes, whereas acquisitive species assembled at the lower slopes. However, RTD was independent from the topographical gradient and most aboveground traits. SRL, N root and root diameter had strong phylogenetic signals. Rubiaceae and Moraceae were typical families with acquisitive traits growing at the lower slope, whereas the early-diverged Lauraceae occurred predominantly at the upper slope and had very thick roots of the conservative type. These findings provide valuable new insights into patterns of fine root trait variation. They confirm the hypothesis of a plant economics spectrum where root traits are integrated, and demonstrate that tree species in tropical montane forests assemble along topographical gradients according to their resource economics strategies and the associated trait combinations.

Abstract:

Ecosystems worldwide are threatened by the increasing impact of land use and climate change. To protect their diversity and functionality, spatially explicit monitoring systems are needed. In remote areas, monitoring is difficult and recurrent field surveys are costly. By using Lidar or themore cost-effective and repetitive optical satellite data, remote sensing could provide proxies for habitat structure supporting measures for the conservation of biodiversity. Here we compared the explanatory power of both, airborne Lidar and optical satellite data in modeling the spatial distribution of biodiversity of birds across a complex tropical mountain forest ecosystem in southeastern Ecuador. Weused data fromfield surveys of birds and chose three measures as proxies for different aspects of diversity: (i) Shannon diversity as a measure of ?-diversity that also includes the relative abundance of species, (ii) phylodiversity as a first proxy for functional diversity, and (iii) community composition as a proxy for combined ?- and ?-diversity.We modeled these diversity estimates using partial least-square regression of Lidar and optical texturemetrics separately and compared themodels using a leave-one-out validated R2 and rootmean square error. Bird community informationwas best predicted by both remote sensing datasets, followed by Shannon diversity and phylodiversity. Our findings reveal a high potential of optical texture metrics for predicting Shannon diversity and ameasure of community composition, but not for modeling phylodiversity. Generalizing from the investigated tropicalmountain ecosystem,we conclude that texture information retrieved frommultispectral data of operational satellite systems could replace costly airborne laser-scanning formodeling certain aspects of biodiversity.

Abstract:

1. Ridges of tropical mountains often differ strikingly from neighbouring ravines in terms of forest structure, productivity and species composition. This heterogeneity is poorly understood despite its critical role in biodiversity maintenance, carbon and nutrient budgets. 2. We examined measures of tree biomass and productivity, foliage and litter quality (nutrient concentrations, specific leaf mass, phenolics), herbivory and leaf litter decomposition in each six plots laid out in upper and lower slope position in a tropical montane moist forest in southeastern Ecuador. 3. Productivity, quality of foliage and litter as well as herbivory were significantly lower in upper slope position, and closely correlated with soil nutrient concentrations and accumulated humus. The decomposition of upper slope leaf litter (decomposition rate k) was substantially lower than in litter from lower slope forest, whereas the site of decomposition (slope position) only had a marginal effect on the decomposition rate. 4. Our results suggest that the differences in stand structure, productivity, foliar quality, herbivory and decomposition between slope positions are ultimately due to stronger nutrient limitations in upper slope forest. We propose a general conceptual model that explains origin and maintenance of contrasting forest types along topographical gradients through down-slope fluxes of nutrients and water, and a nutrient-driven positive feedback cycle.

Abstract:

The spatial heterogeneity of tropical forest epiphytes has rarely been quantified in terms of biomass. In particular, the effect of topographic variation on epiphyte biomass is poorly known, although forests on ridges and ravines can differ drastically in stature and exposure. In an Ecuadorian lower montane forest we quantified epiphytic biomass along two gradients: (1) the twig-branch-trunk trajectory, and (2) the ridge-ravine gradient. Twenty-one trees were sampled in each of three forest types (ridge, slope, ravine positions). Their epiphytic biomass was extrapolated to stand level based on basal area?epiphyte load relationships, with tree basal areas taken from six plots of 400 m 2 each per forest type. Our results document the successional addition and partial replacement of lichens by bryophytes, angiosperms and finally dead organic matter along the twig-branch-trunk trajectory. Despite having the highest tree basal area, total epiphytic biomass (mean ± SD) of ravine forest was significantly lower (2.6 ± 0.7 Mg half 1) than in mid-slope forest (6.3 ± 1.1 Mg half 1) and ridge forest (4.4 ± 1.6 Mg half 1), whereas maximum bryophyte water storage capacity was significantly higher. We attribute this pattern to differences in forest dynamics, stand structure and microclimate. Although our study could not differentiate between direct effects of slope position (nutrient availability, mesoclimate) and indirect effects (stand structure and dynamics), it provides evidence that fine-scale topography needs to be taken into account when extrapolating epiphytic biomass and related matter fluxes from stand-level data to the regional scale.