Relação entre a tolerância de espécies arbóreas à inundação e sua distribuição em ecossistemas neotropicais

Abstract

The present study investigated the Neotropical distribution of groups of Amazonian floodplain tree species of contrasting flood-tolerance. The underlying question was to test if tree species of Amazonian white- and black-water floodplains show different distribution patterns at the neotropical scale, and to test whether macro-scale distributions of tree species growing at higher levels in seasonally inundated habitats differ from those growing lower levels. Indicator species (IndVal) from several várzea and igapó inventories performed by the INPA/MAUA Working Group were selected, and classified into groups of low and high flood tolerance. The actual distributions of the species were analyzed using georeferenced records from herbarium collections and published floristic inventories. The potential species distributions were estimated using ecological niche modeling in MAXENT software. All investigated tree species showed neotropical distributions with concentration in tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests. High várzea tree species had wider spatial distributions than low várzea and igapó tree species for the south Neotropical region, and the same high várzea species one more low igapó tree species had wider distribution to the north. Geomorphology could be the main factor in habitat preference of the species in Amazonian floodplains.