SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.56 issue1Diversidad genética y relaciones de parentesco de las poblaciones silvestres y cultivadas de pejibaye (Bactris gasipaes, Palmae), utilizando marcadores microsatelitalesDo seasonal changes in light availability influence the inverse leafing phenology of the neotropical dry forest understory shrub Bonellia nervosa (Theophrastaceae)? author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Services on Demand

Journal

Article

Indicators

Related links

Share


Revista de Biología Tropical

On-line version ISSN 0034-7744Print version ISSN 0034-7744

Abstract

CUEVAS GUZMAN, Ramón; GARCIA MOYA, Edmundo; ANTONIO VAZQUEZ GARCIA, J  and  NUNEZ LOPEZ, Nora M. Estructura poblacional y relaciones ambientales del árbol tropical Nectandra rudis (Lauraceae), una especie rara en el occidente de México. Rev. biol. trop [online]. 2008, vol.56, n.1, pp.247-256. ISSN 0034-7744.

Population structure and environmental relationships of the tropical tree Nectandra rudis (Lauraceae), a rare species in western Mexico. The tree N. rudis is a rare species from western Mexico of which community and population features are unknown. We studied a population in an altitudinal gradient, from 550-1 850 m above sea level in the Sierra de Manantlan, Jalisco, Mexico. We established four 60x48 m sample sites at vertical distances of 100 m along this altitudinal gradient. Within each plot, ten 100 m2 circular sub-sampling units were randomly located. At each unit, we recorded diameter at breast height (dbh) and tree height for all woody vegetation =2.5 cm dbh. Basal area, tree density, frequency, species richness and importance values per species and plot. We estimated the vertical structure (total tree height) and diameter( as M=5log10N) for all N. rudis individuals. A direct ordination through Canonical Correspondence Analysis was done, involving amongst other species, edaphic and environmental data matrices. The record of 44 N. rudis individuals, in seven out the 56 plots sampled, represents the most septentrional record for the species and the first in Western Mexico. its density and basal area represented 4.5 % and 8.7 % respectively of the total estimated for the community. The greatest importance values were observed at 1 650 m above sea level. The population structure of N. rudis is structured into five diameter categories in an inverse "J" shaped distribution. This is a typical behavior observed to occur in the Lauraceae, which produces big seeds of short viability that germinate when there is high soil moisture content. The species tend to form dense seedling banks although only a reduced number of them are able to survive. Species richness varies from 27 to 39 at plot level; the greatest importance values for the plots on which N. rudis was found, corresponds to Urera verrucosa (Liebm.) V.W. Steinm., N. rudis, Ficus sp., Beilschmiedia manantlanensis Cuevas y Cochrane, amongst others. Canonical Correspondence Analysis suggests that environmental variables such as rooted trees, crown cover, litter depth and soluble magnesium are the more significant explanatory variables for the distribution and abundance of N. rudis. Rev. Biol. Trop. 56 (1): 247-256. Epub 2008 March 31.

Keywords : Canonical Correspondence Analysis; Nectandra rudis; populational structure; Sierra de Manantlán; western Mexico.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )

 

Creative Commons License All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License