Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Tropical Habitats (tropical + habitat)
Selected AbstractsPronounced drought tolerance characterizes the early life stages of the epiphytic bromeliad Tillandsia flexuosaFUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2009Maaike Y. Bader Summary 1Germination and seedling performance may set the limits for plant distributions, particularly in stressful habitats. Stressful conditions at these early stages may be avoided by opportunistic germination and growth, or may be tolerated. Many epiphytic plants are frequently exposed to severe drought. Adult epiphytes endure such dry periods in various ways, but little is known about strategies employed during germination and early life. 2Epiphyte seedlings could show either opportunistic fast growth to quickly attain the benefits of being larger or inherently slow growth and early drought tolerance. Here we address the question: which of these strategies characterizes the early life stages of the epiphytic bromeliad Tillandsia flexuosa, a species typical for dry tropical habitats? 3We studied growth and drought tolerance of germinating seeds, of the emerging seedlings and of 2-month-old seedlings under controlled conditions. Additionally, we studied drought hardening in 6-month-old seedlings. 4Germination of T. flexuosa was reduced by intermittent dry periods. However, compared to the congeneric T. fasciculata, which typically occurs in wetter habitats, the depression of germination by drought was small. Seedling growth was fastest at intermediate moisture levels: both prolonged drought and continuous moisture depressed growth. Prolonged drought had a less negative effect on drought-hardened seedlings than on previously well-watered seedlings. After a 3-week drought treatment the previously well-watered seedlings had lost their growth advantage entirely. Had drought continued, they would have probably been starved, indicated by the low level of their non-structural carbohydrate pool. 5Tillandsia flexuosa employs a stress-tolerance strategy both during germination and during the seedling stage. In its epiphytic habitat this strategy is clearly adaptive, considering the predictable briefness of moisture availability throughout the year and the low competition pressure that allows the very slow growth typically seen in adults and seedlings. These conditions characterize not only the dry-forest habitat of T. flexuosa, but all exposed epiphytic growing sites, so we expect this early stress-tolerance to be common among epiphytes in general. Still, a lower stress tolerance in species from wetter habitats may at least partly explain why T. flexuosa shares its dry-forest habitat with so few other vascular epiphytes. [source] The role of prey size and abundance in the geographical distribution of spider socialityJOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2007KIMBERLY S. POWERS Summary 1Social species in the spider genus Anelosimus predominate in lowland tropical rainforests, while congeneric subsocial species occur at higher elevations or higher latitudes. 2We conducted a comparative study to determine whether differences in total biomass, insect size or both have been responsible for this pattern. 3We found that larger average insect size, rather than greater overall biomass per se, is a key characteristic of lowland tropical habitats correlating with greater sociality. 4Social species occupied environments with insects several times larger than the spiders, while subsocial species nearing dispersal occupied environments with smaller insects in either high or low overall biomass. 5Similarly, in subsocial spider colonies, individuals lived communally at a time when they were younger and therefore smaller than the average insect landing on their webs. 6We thus suggest that the availability of large insects may be a critical factor restricting social species to their lowland tropical habitats. [source] Pronounced genetic diversity in tropical epiphyllous lichen fungiMOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 10 2009ELISABETH BALOCH Abstract Lowland tropical habitats harbour an unexplored genetic diversity of epiphyllous fungi. In the shade of rainforest understoreys, lichenized fungi are specialized to an ephemeral habitat where they produce little vegetative biomass and develop reproductive structures early. In a first population genetic study of epiphyllous lichen fungi, we analysed the intraspecific genetic diversity of five leaf-colonizing lichen mycobiont species. Sampling focused on a lowland perhumid forest plot in Costa Rica, with additional collections from other localities throughout the country. In all species we detected sympatric occurrence of highly diverged haplotypes. Haplotypes belonging to distinct clades in networks were also found on the same leaf, clearly indicating multiple independent colonization events on single leaves. Despite the unusually high genetic diversity of these leaf-colonizing tropical fungi, we did not detect pronounced spatial structure of the haplotype distribution between geographical regions. The observed patterns suggest that the diversity of foliicolous lichens could be much higher than expected, with several cryptic genetic lineages within each morphologically characterized species. [source] HIGHER SYSTEMATICS OF SCORPIONS FROM THE CRATO FORMATION, LOWER CRETACEOUS OF BRAZILPALAEONTOLOGY, Issue 1 2007FEDERICA MENON Abstract:, Several new specimens of Protoischnurus axelrodorum Carvalho and Lourenço and Araripescorpius ligabuei Campos from the Crato Formation, Brazil, are described. The preservation and recognition of new morphological features allows a re-diagnosis of both species and a modification of their familial placement. Protoischnurus axelrodorum is the oldest species belonging to the scorpionoid family Hemiscorpiidae Pocock (= Ischnuridae Simon; =,Liochelidae Fet and Bechly) and the first Cretaceous record. It was originally placed in the extinct family Protoischnuridae Carvalho and Lourenço, which is here synonymized with Hemiscorpiidae. Araripescorpius ligabuei, now assigned to Chactidae Pocock, is the first chactoid recorded for the Cretaceous of Brazil. These findings confirm that the lineages of two modern families date back at least to the Early Cretaceous and, considering their current distribution, were probably present before the break-up of the supercontinent Gondwana. Palaeoecological inferences indicate the presence of tropical habitats in the vicinity of the Crato lake/lagoon. [source] Modes and mechanisms of speciation in pteridophytes: Implications of contrasting patterns in ferns representing temperate and tropical habitatsPLANT SPECIES BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2000Christopher H. Haufler Abstract Discovering how biological diversification results in species is one of the primary challenges facing evolutionary biologists. In the ferns, evidence indicates that dissimilar speciation modes and mechanisms may differentiate some temperate and tropical groups. The Polypodium sibiricum group contains three related diploid species that all inhabit rock outcrops in temperate forests. Although differing lettle in gross leaf morphology and joined by the distinctive morphological synapomorphy of sporangiasters, these three species have an average interspecific genetic identity developed from isozymic com-parisons of only 0.460. A likely mode of speciation is that periodic glaciation pushed Po. sibiricum populations south and, with the retreat of the glaciers, southern populations persisted, evolved diagnostic traits, and ultimately erected postzygotic barriers to interbreeding. This hypothesis follows a classic allopatric speciation model and interspecific distinctions may have been reinforced through contact mediated by subsequent ice ages. In contrast, a monophyletic group of four diploid, epiphytic Pleopeltis species centered in Mexico has an isozymically-determined average interspecific genetic identity value of 0.849. In spite of this high value, these species show greater morphological discrimination than do the Polypodium species. Although the species ranges overlap, they appear to occupy ecologically discrete habitats. These Pleopeltis species may have originated through adaptation to different ecological zones and developed individual morphologies in the process. The high interspecific genetic identity values among the Pleopeltis species suggest a relatively recent and/or rapid process. These hypotheses should be tested by further biosystematic investigations and the discovery of additional monophyletic assemblages with similar patterns of speciation. [source] Phylogenetic Composition of Angiosperm Diversity in the Cloud Forests of MexicoBIOTROPICA, Issue 4 2010Isolda Luna-Vega ABSTRACT Several members of the most ancient living lineages of flowering plants (angiosperms) inhabit humid, woody, mostly tropical habitats. Here we assess whether one of these forest types, the cloud forests of Mexico (CFM), contain a relatively higher proportion of phylogenetically early-diverging angiosperm lineages. The CFM houses an extraordinary plant species diversity, including members of earliest-diverging angiosperm lineages. The phylogenetic composition of CFM angiosperm diversity was evaluated through the relative representation of orders and families with respect to the global flora, and the predominance of phylogenetically early- or late-diverging lineages. Goodness-of-fit tests indicated significant differences in the proportional local and global representation of angiosperm clades. The net difference between the percentage represented by each order and family in the CFM and the global flora allowed identification of clades that are overrepresented and underrepresented in the CFM. Early-diverging angiosperm orders and families were found to be neither over- nor underrepresented in the CFM. A slight predominance of late-diverging phylogenetic levels among overrepresented clades, however, was encountered in the CFM. The resulting pattern suggests that cloud forests provide habitats where the most ancient angiosperm lineages have survived in the face of accumulating species diversity belonging to phylogenetically late-diverging lineages. Abstract in Spanish is available at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/btp [source] | ||||||||||