Species Diversity and Growth Forms in Tropical American Palm Communities

Henrik Balslev; Francis Kahn; Betty Millan; Jens Christian Svenning; Thea Kristiansen; Finn Borchsenius; Dennis Pedersen; Wolf L. Eiserhardt

doi:10.1007/s12229-011-9084-x

Species Diversity and Growth Forms in Tropical American Palm Communities

Henrik Balslev, Francis Kahn, Betty Millan, Jens Christian Svenning, Thea Kristiansen, Finn Borchsenius, Dennis Pedersen, Wolf L. Eiserhardt

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70 Scopus citations

Abstract

To advance our understanding of the processes that govern the assembly of palm communities and the local coexistence of numerous palm species, we here synthesize available information in the literature on species diversity and growth-form composition in palm communities across the Americas. American palm communities surveyed had 4-48 (median 16) species in study plots covering 0.09-7.2 ha. Climate, soils, hydrology, and topography are the main factors determining palm community species richness. Tropical lowland terra firme rain forests are the most species-rich whereas forests that are inundated or grow on sandy soils or in areas with seasonal climate have much fewer species. Palm communities in the central-western Amazon and in Central America are significantly richer than the average region and those in the Caribbean significantly poorer in species. As for branching, the 789 species of tropical American palms belong to Corner's model (solitary, 268 species, 33%), Tomlinsons model (cespitose, 521 species, 66%) and Schoute's model (dichotomous branching, three species, <1%). We assigned the species to eight different growth forms: (i) Large tall-stemmed Palms (102 spp), (ii) Large-leaved medium-short-stemmed Palms (31 spp), (iii) Medium-sized Palms (95 spp), (iv) Medium/Small Palms with Stout Stem (42 spp), (v) Small Palms (423 spp), (vi) Large acaulescent Palms (28 spp), (vii) Small acaulescent Palms (56 spp), and (viii) Climbing Palms (12 spp). The eight growth forms are differently represented in the palm communities, and the categories Small Palms and Large tall-stemmed Palms dominate the communities both in terms of species richness and in number of individuals.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	381-425
Number of pages	45
Journal	The Botanical Review
Volume	77
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s12229-011-9084-x
State	Published - Dec 2011
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgements We would like to thank our colleagues in the PALMS project for inspiring discussions and for help in the field and elsewhere. We are especially grateful to Rodrigo Bernal and Gloria Galeano who facilitated field work in Colombia, to Renato Valencia, Hugo Navarrete and Rommel Montufar for making several arrangements in Ecuador, and Cesar Grández for organizing our field work in Peru, and to Monica Moraes and Narel Paniagua for paving the way for our work in Bolivia. John Dransfield, Fred Stauffer, Andrew Henderson, Jean-Christophe Pintaud, Euridice Honorio, Gloria Galeano and Olivia Sylvester kindly read and commented on the manuscript. The PALMS project is supported by the European Commission (contract no. 212631 to Henrik Balslev) for which we are most grateful. We also acknowledge the financial support from the Danish Council for Independent Research—Natural Sciences (grant no. 10–83348 to HB). The Faculty of Science, Aarhus University supported TK’s PhD study.

Keywords

Amazon
Arecaceae
Functional Diversity
Habitat Specialization
Palmae
Species Richness
Tropical Forest
Tropical Trees

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title = "Species Diversity and Growth Forms in Tropical American Palm Communities",

abstract = "To advance our understanding of the processes that govern the assembly of palm communities and the local coexistence of numerous palm species, we here synthesize available information in the literature on species diversity and growth-form composition in palm communities across the Americas. American palm communities surveyed had 4-48 (median 16) species in study plots covering 0.09-7.2 ha. Climate, soils, hydrology, and topography are the main factors determining palm community species richness. Tropical lowland terra firme rain forests are the most species-rich whereas forests that are inundated or grow on sandy soils or in areas with seasonal climate have much fewer species. Palm communities in the central-western Amazon and in Central America are significantly richer than the average region and those in the Caribbean significantly poorer in species. As for branching, the 789 species of tropical American palms belong to Corner's model (solitary, 268 species, 33%), Tomlinsons model (cespitose, 521 species, 66%) and Schoute's model (dichotomous branching, three species, <1%). We assigned the species to eight different growth forms: (i) Large tall-stemmed Palms (102 spp), (ii) Large-leaved medium-short-stemmed Palms (31 spp), (iii) Medium-sized Palms (95 spp), (iv) Medium/Small Palms with Stout Stem (42 spp), (v) Small Palms (423 spp), (vi) Large acaulescent Palms (28 spp), (vii) Small acaulescent Palms (56 spp), and (viii) Climbing Palms (12 spp). The eight growth forms are differently represented in the palm communities, and the categories Small Palms and Large tall-stemmed Palms dominate the communities both in terms of species richness and in number of individuals.",

keywords = "Amazon, Arecaceae, Functional Diversity, Habitat Specialization, Palmae, Species Richness, Tropical Forest, Tropical Trees",

author = "Henrik Balslev and Francis Kahn and Betty Millan and Svenning, {Jens Christian} and Thea Kristiansen and Finn Borchsenius and Dennis Pedersen and Eiserhardt, {Wolf L.}",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgements We would like to thank our colleagues in the PALMS project for inspiring discussions and for help in the field and elsewhere. We are especially grateful to Rodrigo Bernal and Gloria Galeano who facilitated field work in Colombia, to Renato Valencia, Hugo Navarrete and Rommel Montufar for making several arrangements in Ecuador, and Cesar Gr{\'a}ndez for organizing our field work in Peru, and to Monica Moraes and Narel Paniagua for paving the way for our work in Bolivia. John Dransfield, Fred Stauffer, Andrew Henderson, Jean-Christophe Pintaud, Euridice Honorio, Gloria Galeano and Olivia Sylvester kindly read and commented on the manuscript. The PALMS project is supported by the European Commission (contract no. 212631 to Henrik Balslev) for which we are most grateful. We also acknowledge the financial support from the Danish Council for Independent Research—Natural Sciences (grant no. 10–83348 to HB). The Faculty of Science, Aarhus University supported TK{\textquoteright}s PhD study.",

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AU - Kahn, Francis

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AU - Borchsenius, Finn

AU - Pedersen, Dennis

AU - Eiserhardt, Wolf L.

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgements We would like to thank our colleagues in the PALMS project for inspiring discussions and for help in the field and elsewhere. We are especially grateful to Rodrigo Bernal and Gloria Galeano who facilitated field work in Colombia, to Renato Valencia, Hugo Navarrete and Rommel Montufar for making several arrangements in Ecuador, and Cesar Grández for organizing our field work in Peru, and to Monica Moraes and Narel Paniagua for paving the way for our work in Bolivia. John Dransfield, Fred Stauffer, Andrew Henderson, Jean-Christophe Pintaud, Euridice Honorio, Gloria Galeano and Olivia Sylvester kindly read and commented on the manuscript. The PALMS project is supported by the European Commission (contract no. 212631 to Henrik Balslev) for which we are most grateful. We also acknowledge the financial support from the Danish Council for Independent Research—Natural Sciences (grant no. 10–83348 to HB). The Faculty of Science, Aarhus University supported TK’s PhD study.

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N2 - To advance our understanding of the processes that govern the assembly of palm communities and the local coexistence of numerous palm species, we here synthesize available information in the literature on species diversity and growth-form composition in palm communities across the Americas. American palm communities surveyed had 4-48 (median 16) species in study plots covering 0.09-7.2 ha. Climate, soils, hydrology, and topography are the main factors determining palm community species richness. Tropical lowland terra firme rain forests are the most species-rich whereas forests that are inundated or grow on sandy soils or in areas with seasonal climate have much fewer species. Palm communities in the central-western Amazon and in Central America are significantly richer than the average region and those in the Caribbean significantly poorer in species. As for branching, the 789 species of tropical American palms belong to Corner's model (solitary, 268 species, 33%), Tomlinsons model (cespitose, 521 species, 66%) and Schoute's model (dichotomous branching, three species, <1%). We assigned the species to eight different growth forms: (i) Large tall-stemmed Palms (102 spp), (ii) Large-leaved medium-short-stemmed Palms (31 spp), (iii) Medium-sized Palms (95 spp), (iv) Medium/Small Palms with Stout Stem (42 spp), (v) Small Palms (423 spp), (vi) Large acaulescent Palms (28 spp), (vii) Small acaulescent Palms (56 spp), and (viii) Climbing Palms (12 spp). The eight growth forms are differently represented in the palm communities, and the categories Small Palms and Large tall-stemmed Palms dominate the communities both in terms of species richness and in number of individuals.

AB - To advance our understanding of the processes that govern the assembly of palm communities and the local coexistence of numerous palm species, we here synthesize available information in the literature on species diversity and growth-form composition in palm communities across the Americas. American palm communities surveyed had 4-48 (median 16) species in study plots covering 0.09-7.2 ha. Climate, soils, hydrology, and topography are the main factors determining palm community species richness. Tropical lowland terra firme rain forests are the most species-rich whereas forests that are inundated or grow on sandy soils or in areas with seasonal climate have much fewer species. Palm communities in the central-western Amazon and in Central America are significantly richer than the average region and those in the Caribbean significantly poorer in species. As for branching, the 789 species of tropical American palms belong to Corner's model (solitary, 268 species, 33%), Tomlinsons model (cespitose, 521 species, 66%) and Schoute's model (dichotomous branching, three species, <1%). We assigned the species to eight different growth forms: (i) Large tall-stemmed Palms (102 spp), (ii) Large-leaved medium-short-stemmed Palms (31 spp), (iii) Medium-sized Palms (95 spp), (iv) Medium/Small Palms with Stout Stem (42 spp), (v) Small Palms (423 spp), (vi) Large acaulescent Palms (28 spp), (vii) Small acaulescent Palms (56 spp), and (viii) Climbing Palms (12 spp). The eight growth forms are differently represented in the palm communities, and the categories Small Palms and Large tall-stemmed Palms dominate the communities both in terms of species richness and in number of individuals.

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KW - Arecaceae

KW - Functional Diversity

KW - Habitat Specialization

KW - Palmae

KW - Species Richness

KW - Tropical Forest

KW - Tropical Trees

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Species Diversity and Growth Forms in Tropical American Palm Communities

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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