https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9638-7024
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ABSTRACT
Background
The mass ratio hypothesis (functional dominance) and niche complementarity hypothesis (functional diversity) are two potential approaches for making the link between biodiversity and biomass. It is yet unclear how biodiversity and biomass are related in seasonally dry tropical forest (SDTF) communities where there is a seasonal water limitation.
Aims
The objective of this study was to quantify the effects of environmental filtering on ecosystem functioning, especially those related to biodiversity and above-ground biomass.
Methods
We estimated biomass and functional traits for all species in five plots at five sites in a SDTF. We related functional diversity and community-weighted trait mean (CWM) values to above-ground biomass (AGB) using linear mixed models.
Results
Functional diversity was not related to AGB, while CWM values of vessel density (VD) were positively and the Carlquist Vulnerability Index (CVI) was negatively related to AGB.
Conclusion
The CWM values of functional traits related to the trade-off between safety of water transport and the efficiency of water conductivity and conservative strategies (VD and CVI) were good predictors of AGB. The mass ratio hypothesis appears to be a better predictor of AGB than niche complementarity in our study conducted in the SDTF.
Acknowledgements
This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001. The authors thank CAPES, CNPq, FAPEMG and UFLA for financial assistance. We thank the Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA), Departamento de Ciências Florestais and Laboratório de Anatomia Vegetal UFLA; and Camila Laís Farrapo for technical contributions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17550874.2022.2087114
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Fernanda M. Gianasi
Fernanda M. Gianasi is interested in ecological anatomy, functional diversity and the ecology of tropical forests.
Paola F. Santos is interested in forest ecology, ecological anatomy, ecophysiology and ethnobotany.
Cléber R. de Souza
Cléber R. de Souza is interested in forest structure and dynamics, phytogeography and carbon stock and storage patterns.
Vinícius A. Maia
Vinícius A. Maia is interested in forest inventory, structure and dynamics of forest populations and communities, biodiversity, carbon stocks and forest productivity, data science and statistics.
Nathalle C. A. Fagundes
Nathalle C. A A. Fagundes is interested in forest ecology, the structure and dynamics of plant communities, environmental restoration, functional and evolutionary ecology, ecological anatomy and ecophysiology and ethnobotany.
Wilder B. da Silva
Wilder B. da Silva is interested in forest ecology, and the structure and dynamics of plant communities.
Paola F. Santos
Paola F. Santos is interested in forest ecology, ecological anatomy, ecophysiology and ethnobotany.
Rubens M. dos Santos
Rubens M. dos Santos is interested in forest ecology, with an emphasis on structure and dynamics of plant communities, dendrology, phytogeography, functional and evolutionary ecology, carbon storage and in plant anatomy, and ecophysiology.