Influence of density and location of seed sources, dispersal and post-dispersal processes in the spatial pattern of Atlantic Rainforest trees at the northern coast of São Paulo State

• Grant number: 11/00832-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: July 01, 2011
• End date: February 28, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Theoretical Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Flavio Antonio Maës dos Santos
• Grantee: Valéria Forni Martins
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 12/02012-3 - Determination of factors that influence the spatial structure of trees in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest using the O-ring statistics, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Tropical tree species which are either dioecious or that occur at low densities tend to be more aggregated than monoecious and denser species. Also, species equipped with mechanisms for long-distance seed dispersal are less aggregated that those equipped with mechanisms that favours limited dispersal. Last, environmental heterogeneity and positive interactions result in higher aggregation of large individuals than of smaller ones, whereas negative interactions result in the opposite pattern. Each of these factors operates at different spatial scales, so that there is a hierarchical aggregation of the populations. Our main objective is to determine how each factor contributes to the distribution of Atlantic Rainforest trees in 14 ha of the Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, northern coast of São Paulo State. We will use the O-ring statistics (substitutes the circles in the K-function for rings and therefore is not a cumulative function) to determine the spatial pattern of the species in order to answer whether: (1) low density populations are more aggregated than denser populations, (2) populations of dioecious species are more aggregated that those of monoecious species, (3) populations of species with seed dispersal syndromes that favours limited dispersal are more aggregated than populations of species with syndromes that enable long-distance dispersal, and (4) larger individuals are more or less aggregated than the smaller ones at scales where operate the different factors that result in environmental heterogeneity, and positive and negative interactions.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MARTINS, VALERIA FORNI; DOS SANTOS SEGER, GUILHERME DUBAL; WIEGAND, THORSTEN; MAES DOS SANTOS, FLAVIO ANTONIO. Phylogeny contributes more than site characteristics and traits to the spatial distribution pattern of tropical tree populations. OIKOS, v. 127, n. 9, p. 1368-1379, SEP 2018. (12/02012-3, 11/00832-0)