Abstract
This study aimed to recognized the preferential location of species of the tree sinusiae in response to a moisture gradient in Pantanal Matogrossense, Brazil. We established sampling plots of arboreal sinusiae along a soil moisture and flood gradient. Piezometers were installed, allowing monthly measurements of water table depth and flood height during one year. Detrended Correspondence Analysis, Gradient Direct Analysis, Multi-response Permutation Procedures and Indicator Species Analysis were performed to evaluate the effect of moisture gradient on tree distribution. The annual variation of water table is shallower and similar in Seasonally Flooded Forest and Termite Savanna, with increasing depths in Open Savanna, Savanna Forest and Dry Forest. Circa 64% of the species were characterized as having a preferential location in "terrestrial habitats normally not subjected to inundation", while 8% preferentially occur in "wet habitats". Lowest tree richness in flood-affected vegetation types is related to both present-day high climatic seasonality and Late Pleistocene dry paleoclimates in the Pantanal wetland. The tree distribution across different formations in the Pantanal shows a direct relationship with soil moisture gradient.
Highlights
The Pantanal Matogrossense is one of largest wetland systems in the world, and the largest seasonally flooded area in South America (Nunes da Cunha and Junk 2015)
EXAMPLES OF ADAPTATION TO DROUGHT AND FLOODING. These results indicated that water table depth and flood height influence the species composition and distribution at each plant community in the vegetation gradient
We observed that a given group of species is well adapted to flooding, such as those from Cambarazal
Summary
The Pantanal Matogrossense is one of largest wetland systems in the world, and the largest seasonally flooded area in South America (Nunes da Cunha and Junk 2015). Flood is one of the controlling factors of maintenance of fauna, flora and landscape diversity in Pantanal (Junk et al 1989, Nunes da Cunha and Junk 1999, 2001). Based on the concept of flood pulse in floodplain systems (Junk et al 1989), Nunes da Cunha and Junk (2001) stated that tree vegetation in Pantanal is distributed over a flooding gradient, in accordance to tolerance to either flood or drought. This differential tolerance, with morphological and physiological adaptations of species, leads to formation of peculiar forest communities
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