Abstract Detail

Ecological Section

Diazgranados, Mauricio [1], Funk, Vicki [1].

Investigating diversity patterns in the Guiana Shield.

For decades scientists have been debating regarding why some areas are more biodiverse than others, and why and how the community structure and composition vary through time and space. The debate has been centered over the validity of deterministic theories in community ecology, versus more stochastic theories. Deterministic theories suggest that local, niche-based processes largely determine patterns of species diversity and composition. Stochastic theories rest relevance to niche and give more importance to processes such as colonization probability, biogeographic processes, random extinction and ecological drift. One way to address this problem is studying the two general types of β diversity in a landscape: directional turnover along a gradient and non-directional variation. Data from circa 160,000 plant collections obtained during more than two decades by the Biological Diversity of the Guiana Shield Program (BDG) of the Smithsonian Institution, offer a unique opportunity to understand patterns of diversity across the geography of one of the most biodiverse regions of the planet. Two challenges had to be sorted out at this scale of work: database cleaning and sampling bias. We are currently using various environmental factors (climate, elevation, soil type, geographic location, etc.) to understand these patterns. Results will be presented at this talk.

Broader Impacts:

Related Links:
Biological Diversity of the Guiana Shield

1 - Smithsonian Institution, DEPT OF BOTANY-NHB 166, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, USA

Keywords:
biodiversity
Guiana Shield
Species richness
species turnover
species variation.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 32
Location: Marlborough B/Riverside Hilton
Date: Tuesday, July 30th, 2013
Time: 3:00 PM
Number: 32007
Abstract ID:882
Candidate for Awards:None