Florística, distribuição e diversidade beta da comunidade arbórea ao longo do gradiente ambiental hídrico em uma floresta de terra firme no interflúvio Purus-Madeira, Amazônia Central

Abstract

For a better understanding about how environmental variables influence species distribution a thorough knowledge of the flora of tropical forests is needed. Recent studies have investigated how environmental conditions influence the distribuition of tree species in tropical forests. Soil properties and topography are the most frequently used predictor variables and indirectly reflect the hydrological conditions of a region. Nevertheless, the direct relation of water availability and distribution of tree species is poorly explored. We inventoried the tree community (DAP > 10 cm) in an upland forest of the Purus-Madeira interfluvial in 12 plots of 250 x 40 m distributed over approximately 700 km in a North-South gradient in Central Amazonia. The material collected will be deposited in the herbarium of the Instituto Federal do Amazonas (ETAM). We identified 655 species in 193 genera and 56 botanical families totaling 3.708 individuals. From these, 263 species (40%) were considered rare, with only one individual among the 12 plots. The most abundant and richer families were Lecythidaceae, Fabaceae, Sapotaceae and Chrysobalanaceae. The species with higher IVI were Eschweilera coriacea, Eschweilera truncate e Licania micrantha. The tree community was related to local water conditions through two related measures, the vertical distance from the nearest drainage (HAND) and flooding. The quantitative and qualitative compositional data of the floristic composition were sorted using NonMetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS). The environmental variables of local water conditions, precipitation in the driest months and soil silt content were related to the axes of the NMDS through regressions. The percentage of silt in the soil and local water conditions were related to the change in the floristic composition of trees. Precipitation in the driest months was weakely related to the composition of local flora, but plays a fundamental role in the composition of the local water conditions. All three predictor variables have an important role for effective availability of water for the trees.