COMMUNITIES DOMINATED BY ATMOSPHERIC BROMELIADS AS A MODEL FOR METACOMMUNITIES STUDIES

• Grant number: 16/04396-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2016
• End date: March 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Davi Rodrigo Rossatto
• Grantee: Cleber Juliano Neves Chaves
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 17/01559-2 - Local and regional coexistence of atmospheric bromeliads in epiphyte communities: unraveling intra and interspecific mechanisms of competition among species with highly overlapping niches, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

Atmospheric bromeliads are epiphytes with unique characteristics, with reduced size, presence of non-functional roots, absortive leaves, and capacity to form massive populations. Thus, epiphyte communities dominated by these plants could be an interesting model to metacommunities studies. The aim of this study is to test over four chapters, the paradigms of Metacommunity theory (i.e. "species-sorting", "mass-effect", "patch-dynamic" and "neutral-model"). In the first chapter, already finalized, we tested the effect of host functional traits on atmospheric bromeliads abundance and distribution in tree canopies. We observed that the presence and abundance of atmospheric bromeliads are influenced by combinations of tree functional traits unrelated to tree species. In the second chapter, we will test the influence of the dynamics of source- and sink-communities and host functional traits on the composition of epiphyte communities in environments with higher and lower tree densities. We expect that the influence of "source-communities" in the composition of atmospheric bromeliads of "sink-communities" is higher in environments with lower tree density, due to the greater permeability to wind-dispersed seeds. Moreover, the influence of the tree traits will be greater in environments with higher tree density, due to the reduced permeability to wind-dispersed seeds. In the third chapter, we will test, through an empirical study and a IBM modeling, the effect of space competition on the composition and coexistence of atmospheric bromeliads in some host trees. We expect that possible differences in competitive strategies influence the local and regional coexistence of species of atmospheric bromeliads and that such dynamics are linked to distinct functional traits of hosts. We expect to detect through the IBM modeling, how the logging of trees with specific functional traits affects the regional composition and coexistence of atmospheric bromeliads. Finally, in the fourth chapter, we will test in a fine scale, the influence of stochasticity on the population dynamics of two atmospheric bromeliads with distinct reproductive strategies, a cleistogamous and another with mixed reproductive system (i.e. self- and cross-fertilization). In the cleistogamous species, we will test the existence of ecological patterns (e.g. "founder takes all") in distinct local populations, while the species with mixed reproductive system will be used to test the influence of the distance among plants in reproductive stage on the self rate and on the metapopulation structure.

Scientific publications

(6)

(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)

NEVES CHAVES, CLEBER JULIANO; SANTOS LEAL, BARBARA SIMOES; ROSSATTO, DAVI RODRIGO; BERGER, UTA; PALMA-SILVA, CLARISSE. Deforestation is the turning point for the spreading of a weedy epiphyte: an IBM approach. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, v. 11, n. 1, OCT 14 2021. (14/08087-0, 17/01559-2, 16/04396-4)

LEAL, BARBARA SIMOES SANTOS; CHAVES, CLEBER JULIANO NEVES; GRACIANO, VANESSA ARAUJO; BOURY, CHRISTOPHE; HUACRE, LUIS ALBERTO PILLACA; HEUERTZ, MYRIAM; PALMA-SILVA, CLARISSE. Evidence of local adaptation despite strong drift in a Neotropical patchily distributed bromeliad. HEREDITY, v. 127, n. 2, p. 203-218, AUG 2021. (14/15588-6, 14/08087-0, 16/04396-4, 16/20273-0)

CHAVES, CLEBER J. N.; ROSSATTO, DAVI R.. Reducing tree density affects interactions between trees and atmospheric Tillandsia species (Bromeliaceae). AUSTRAL ECOLOGY, v. 46, n. 2, NOV 2020. (16/04396-4)

CHAVES, C. J. N.; ROSSATTO, D. R.. Unravelling intricate interactions among atmospheric bromeliads with highly overlapping niches in seasonal systems. Plant Biology, v. 22, n. 2, p. 243-251, MAR 2020. (16/04396-4)

SANTOS LEAL, BARBARA SIMOES; GRACIANO, VANESSA ARAUJO; NEVES CHAVES, CLEBER JULIANO; PILLACA HUACRE, LUIS ALBERTO; HEUERTZ, MYRIAM; PALMA-SILVA, CLARISSE. Dispersal and local persistence shape the genetic structure of a widespread Neotropical plant species with a patchy distribution. ANNALS OF BOTANY, v. 124, n. 3, p. 499-512, AUG 16 2019. (14/08087-0, 14/15588-6, 16/04396-4)

NEVES CHAVES, CLEBER JULIANO; AOKI-GONCALVES, FELIPE; SANTOS LEAL, BARBARA SIMOES; ROSSATTO, DAVI RODRIGO; PALMA-SILVA, CLARISSE. Transferability of nuclear microsatellite markers to the atmospheric bromeliads Tillandsia recurvata and T-aeranthos (Bromeliaceae). BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY, v. 41, n. 4, p. 931-935, DEC 2018. (16/04396-4, 14/15588-6, 14/08087-0, 16/03777-4)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

CHAVES, Cleber Juliano Neves. Ecology of metapopulations and metacommunities of atmospheric bromeliads. 2019. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Instituto de Biociências. Rio Claro Rio Claro.