Abstract
Brazil has one of the largest mangrove surfaces worldwide. Due to a wide latitudinal distribution, Brazilian mangroves can be found within a large range of environmental conditions. However, little attention has been given to the description of environmental variables driving the distribution of mangrove species in Brazil. In this study, we present a novel and unprecedented description of environmental conditions for all mangroves along the Brazilian coast focusing on species limits. We apply a descriptive statistics and data-driven approach using Self-Organizing Maps and we combine data from terrestrial and marine environmental geodatabases in a Geographical Information System. We evaluate 25 environmental variables (21 bioclimatic variables, three sea surface temperature derivates, and salinity). The results reveal three groups of correlated variables: (i) air temperature derivates and sea surface temperature derivates; (ii) air temperature, potential evapotranspiration and precipitation derivates; and (iii) precipitation derivates, aridity and salinity. Our results unveil new locations of extreme values of temperature and precipitation. We conclude that Rhizophora harrisonii and Rhizophora racemosa are more limited by precipitation and aridity and that they do not necessarily follow a latitudinal gradient. Our data also reveal that the lowest air temperatures of the coldest month are not necessarily found at the southernmost limits of mangroves in Brazil; instead they are localized at the Mesoregion of Vale do Itajaí. However, the minimum sea surface temperature drops gradually with higher latitudes in the Brazilian southern hemisphere and is probably a better indicator for the decrease of species at the latitudinal limits of mangroves than the air temperature and precipitation.
Highlights
Understanding the influence of climate on the distribution of mangrove species is still a major challenge for science
We address the following questions: Which environmental variables influence the spatial distribution of mangrove species? Can the bioclimate and environmental data at higher temporal and spatial resolution improve the characterization of the Brazilian mangrove ecosystems? To answer these questions, we have set out four objectives: (i) to update the information on climatic and salinity conditions in Brazilian mangroves using the most recent environmental databases; (ii) to overcome data gaps found in the previous studies; (iii) to cluster relevant environmental variables according to their spatial dependence; and (iv) to provide a better understanding of the fundamental niche [26] of the mangrove plant species
The objectives of this study were achieved for the Brazilian mangroves
Summary
Understanding the influence of climate on the distribution of mangrove species is still a major challenge for science. Previous studies have shown that rainfall and temperature are commonly the main drivers of forest structure and species composition variability in the tropics [1]. In regions such as the Brazilian coast, where the latitudinal gradient is associated with a large. The climatic database used by the previous study [2] is over 40 years old (Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, 1972) with few climatic data samples coming mainly from states’ capitals Given these bottlenecks, the spatial variability of environmental conditions in the major Brazilian coastal mangroves is still unknown, considerably increasing uncertainties on the characterization of mangrove structure and species’ composition
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