Title: Models of regional and local stand composition and dynamics of pine-oak forests in the Central Highlands of Chiapas (Mexico): theoretical and management implications.
Abstract: A sound analysis of the long-term implications of fragmentation and habitat loss for forest biodiversity requires the identification of the mechanisms underlying forest structure and composition. In this chapter we compile evidence from several multi-scale empirical and theoretical studies conducted in the Central Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, to propose possible mechanisms underlying observed tree species richness patterns. In agreement with a niche-based perspective, tree segregation and coexistence patterns at regional scales provide partial evidence of niche differentiation along environmental gradients. Also recruitment patterns and Markovian models of stand composition parameterized at local scales suggest differential regeneration niches and a predictable successional dynamics with convergence towards a forest dominated by a broadleaved canopy. However, both the scales of unaccounted spatial variation in regional models of stand composition and the existence of predictable local successional dynamics associated with guild groups rather than species (pines, oaks, canopy broadleaves and understorey broadleaves) support the idea of neutral processes operating within guilds or functional groups. These results suggest that from a theoretical point of view pine-oak forests of the Highlands of Chiapas are an intermediate stage between highly diverse humid tropical forests and more simplified pine-oak temperate forests, with segregation and coexistence among a given number of functional groups or guilds, but also with neutral mechanisms driving community composition at more local scales. From a management perspective, in addition to the preservation of large fragments (as implied from neutral theories), the forest area preserved or to be restored should include a representative array of forest habitat types (as implied from a niche-based perspective) arranged so that spatial proximity among fragments and connectivity is maximized.
Publication Year: 2007
Publication Date: 2007-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 4
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