The Amazon Epiphyte Network: A First Glimpse Into Continental-Scale Patterns of Amazonian Vascular Epiphyte Assemblages
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, vol. 5
Abstract
Epiphytes are still an understudied plant group in Amazonia. The aim of this study was to identify distributional patterns and conservation priorities for vascular epiphyte assemblages (VEA) across Amazonia. We compiled the largest Amazonian epiphyte plot database to date, through a multinational collaborative effort of 22 researchers and 32 field sites located across four Amazonian countries – the Amazonian Epiphyte Network (AEN). We addressed the following continental-scale questions by utilizing the AEN database comprising 96,448 epiphyte individuals, belonging to 518 vascular taxa, and growing on 10,907 tree individuals (phorophytes). Our objectives here are, first, to present a qualitative evaluation of the geographic distribution of the study sites and highlight regional lacunae as priorities for future quantitative inventories. Second, to present the floristic patterns for Amazonia-wide VEA and third, to combine multivariate analyses and rank abundance curves, controlled by major Amazonian habitat types, to determine how VEA vary geographically and ecologically based on major Amazonian habitat types. Three of the most striking patterns found are that: (1) VEA are spatially structured as floristic similarity decays with geographic distance; (2) a core group of 22 oligarchic taxa account for more than a half of all individuals; and (3) extensive floristic sampling gaps still exist, mainly across the highly threatened southern Amazonian deforestation belt. This work represents a first step toward unveiling distributional pattern of Amazonian VEA, which is important to guide future questions on ecology and species distribution ranges of VEA once the collaborative database grows allowing a clearer view of patterns.
Authors 23
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Adriano Costa Quaresma corresponding
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology · Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Affiliation as printed
Department of Wetland Ecology, Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
Grupo de Pesquisa Ecologia, Monitoramento e uso Sustentável de Areas Úmidas (MAUA), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Brazil
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Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Affiliation as printed
Department of Biodiversity (CBIO), National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), Manaus, Brazil
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Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Affiliation as printed
Grupo de Pesquisa Ecologia, Monitoramento e uso Sustentável de Areas Úmidas (MAUA), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Brazil
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Department of Wetland Ecology, Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Brazil
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Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Affiliation as printed
National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA), Manaus, Brazil
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Corporación para Investigaciones Biológicas
Affiliation as printed
Corporación para Investigaciones Biológicas (CIB), Medellín, Colombia
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Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro
Affiliation as printed
Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Affiliation as printed
Laboratório de Ecologia, Departamento de Meio Ambiente e Desenvolvimento, Universidade Federal do Amapá, Macapá, Brazil
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Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Affiliation as printed
Department of Biodiversity (CBIO), National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), Manaus, Brazil
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Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Affiliation as printed
Departamento de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Medellín, Medellín, Colombia
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Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Affiliation as printed
Grupo de Pesquisa Ecologia, Monitoramento e uso Sustentável de Areas Úmidas (MAUA), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Brazil
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Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Affiliation as printed
Department of Biodiversity (CBIO), National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), Manaus, Brazil
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Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Affiliation as printed
Grupo de Pesquisa Ecologia, Monitoramento e uso Sustentável de Areas Úmidas (MAUA), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Brazil
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Affiliation as printed
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade Tropical, Universidade Federal do Amapá, Macapá, Brazil
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Affiliation as printed
Quantitative Biodiversity Dynamics, Utrecht University Botanic Gardens, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
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Botanical Research Institute of Texas
Affiliation as printed
Fort Worth Botanical Garden and Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Fort Worth, TX, United States
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Affiliation as printed
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
Independent Researcher, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Leiden University · Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Affiliation as printed
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
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National University of Tucumán · Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Affiliation as printed
Instituto de Ecología Regional, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán – Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Yerba Buena, Argentina
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Affiliation as printed
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands
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