Floristics and biogeography of vegetation in seasonally dry tropical regions

Dexter, KG and Smart, B and Baldauf, C and Baker, TR and Balinga, Bessike MP and Brienen, RJW and Fauset, S and Feldpausch, TR and Ferreira-Da Silva, L and Muledi, Ilunga J and Lewis, SL and Lopez-Gonzalez, G and Marimon-Junior, BH and Marimon, BS and Meerts, P and Page, N and Parthasarathy, N and Phillips, OL and Sunderland, TCH and Theilade, I and Weintritt, J and Affum-Baffoe, K and Araujo, A and Arroyo, L and Begne, SK and Carvalho-Das Neves, E and Collins, M and Cuni-Sanchez, A and Djuikouo, MNK and Elias, F and Foli, EG and Jeffery, KJ and Killeen, TJ and Malhi, Y and Maracahipes, L and Mendoza, C and Monteagudo-Mendoza, A and Morandi, P and Oliveira-Dos Santos, C and Parada, AG and Pardo, G and Peh, KSH and Salomao, RP and Silveira, M and Sinatora-Miranda, H and Slik, JWF and Sonke, B and Taedoumg, HE and Toledo, M and Umetsu, RK and Villaroel, RG and Vos, VA and White, LJT and Pennington, RT (2015) Floristics and biogeography of vegetation in seasonally dry tropical regions. In: INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY REVIEW, 17 (2, SI). pp. 10-32.

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Abstract

To provide an inter-continental overview of the floristics and biogeography of drought-adapted tropical vegetation formations, we compiled a dataset of inventory plots in South America (n=93), Africa (n=84), and Asia (n=92) from savannas (subject to fire), seasonally dry tropicalforests (not generally subject to fire), and moist forests (no fire). We analysed floristic similarity across vegetation formations within and between continents. Our dataset strongly suggests that different formations tend to be strongly clustered-floristically by continent, and that among-continents, superficially similar vegetation formations (e.g. savannas) are floristically highly dissimilar. Neotropical moist forest, savanna and seasonally dry tropical forest are floristically distinct, but elsewhere there is no clear floristic division of savanna and seasonally dry tropical forest, though moist and dry formations are separate. We suggest that because of their propensity to burn, many formations termed ``dry forest'' in Africa and Asia are best considered as savannas. The floristic differentiation of similar vegetation formations from different continents suggests that cross-continental generalisations of the ecology, biology and conservation of savannas and seasonally dry tropical forests may be difficult.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY REVIEW
Publisher:	COMMONWEALTH FORESTRY ASSOC
Additional Information:	Copy right for this article belongs to the COMMONWEALTH FORESTRY ASSOC, CRIB, DINCHOPE, CRAVEN ARRMS SY7 9JJ, SHROPSHIRE, ENGLAND
Keywords:	savanna; seasonally dry tropical forest; moist forest; metacommunities; resilience
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences
Date Deposited:	20 Jul 2016 09:15
Last Modified:	20 Jul 2016 09:15
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/54233

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