A functional trait based approach to understand tropical forest composition and function in a Costa Rican landscape

Tesis (Ph.D) -- CATIE. Escuela de Posgrado, Turrialba (Costa Rica), University of Idaho, 2014

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Chain Guadarrama, Adina
Format:	Tesis
Language:	Inglés
Published:	CATIE, Turrialba (Costa Rica) 2015
Subjects:	ECOLOGIA BOSQUE TROPICAL PAISAJE ECOSISTEMA BIODIVERSIDAD CONSERVACION COMPOSICION COMPOSICION BOTANICA ANATOMIA DE LA PLANTA ARBOLES CRECIMIENTO RASGOS FUNCIONALES COSTA RICA
Online Access:	https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/7132

id	RepoCATIE7132
record_format	dspace
spelling	RepoCATIE71322023-08-15T16:29:02Z A functional trait based approach to understand tropical forest composition and function in a Costa Rican landscape Chain Guadarrama, Adina ECOLOGIA BOSQUE TROPICAL PAISAJE ECOSISTEMA BIODIVERSIDAD CONSERVACION COMPOSICION COMPOSICION BOTANICA ANATOMIA DE LA PLANTA ARBOLES CRECIMIENTO RASGOS FUNCIONALES COSTA RICA Tesis (Ph.D) -- CATIE. Escuela de Posgrado, Turrialba (Costa Rica), University of Idaho, 2014 Quantifying the factors driving tropical forest composition, structure and function is a continuous area of ecological research. Recently, novel approaches have enabled research questions on this topic to be addressed not only using a taxonomic approach (species identity and abundance), but through the characterization of the collection of species functional traits present within plant communities. This functional trait approach is powerful because traits are directly linked to the performance of species in their environment, determining how they use limiting resources, limiting their geographic range and areas of distribution, and determining ecosystem processes and services delivered to humans. The research reported here follows this functional approach. Located within the San Juan La Selva Region in northern Costa Rica, the study landscape encompasses 6,166 km2 across edaphic, climatic and elevation gradients. Using species abundance and six functional traits from more than 250 species of dominant canopy trees and palms in 127 old-growth forest plots, we sought to (i) better understand the underlying factors determining the assembly processes of old-growth forest communities, (ii) assess current and future spatial distributions of community functional properties, and (iii) quantify relationships between forest canopy functional characteristics and hydrologic processes. This work highlights the value of using functional traits to assess community assembly. In particular, we demonstrate through the use of functional traits the role that niche assembly mechanisms play in the community composition of old-growth forest communities along edaphic and climatic gradients. Moreover, by building response models of community traits values to climate variables, we predict community functional properties under current and future scenarios of climate change, discussing the consequences that the observed reduction in functional area occupied by these forest communities could have on ecosystem function. Finally this research demonstrated that particular functional elements of lowland forest canopies influence the spatial redistribution of rainfall. Therefore, future shifts in species and functional group composition could potentially change the hydrological cycle in these ecosystems. Our ability to accurately assess vegetation responses to environment and predict composition changes in tropical landscapes undergoing continuous transformation derived by human activities is relevant to finding appropriate conservation approaches of remnant forest fragments. 2015-07-24T16:40:24Z 2015-07-24T16:40:24Z 2014 Tesis de maestría https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/7132 CATIE en application/pdf CATIE, Turrialba (Costa Rica)
institution	Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza
collection	Repositorio CATIE
language	Inglés
topic	ECOLOGIA BOSQUE TROPICAL PAISAJE ECOSISTEMA BIODIVERSIDAD CONSERVACION COMPOSICION COMPOSICION BOTANICA ANATOMIA DE LA PLANTA ARBOLES CRECIMIENTO RASGOS FUNCIONALES COSTA RICA
spellingShingle	ECOLOGIA BOSQUE TROPICAL PAISAJE ECOSISTEMA BIODIVERSIDAD CONSERVACION COMPOSICION COMPOSICION BOTANICA ANATOMIA DE LA PLANTA ARBOLES CRECIMIENTO RASGOS FUNCIONALES COSTA RICA Chain Guadarrama, Adina A functional trait based approach to understand tropical forest composition and function in a Costa Rican landscape
description	Tesis (Ph.D) -- CATIE. Escuela de Posgrado, Turrialba (Costa Rica), University of Idaho, 2014
format	Tesis
author	Chain Guadarrama, Adina
author_facet	Chain Guadarrama, Adina
author_sort	Chain Guadarrama, Adina
title	A functional trait based approach to understand tropical forest composition and function in a Costa Rican landscape
title_short	A functional trait based approach to understand tropical forest composition and function in a Costa Rican landscape
title_full	A functional trait based approach to understand tropical forest composition and function in a Costa Rican landscape
title_fullStr	A functional trait based approach to understand tropical forest composition and function in a Costa Rican landscape
title_full_unstemmed	A functional trait based approach to understand tropical forest composition and function in a Costa Rican landscape
title_sort	functional trait based approach to understand tropical forest composition and function in a costa rican landscape
publisher	CATIE, Turrialba (Costa Rica)
publishDate	2015
url	https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/7132
work_keys_str_mv	AT chainguadarramaadina afunctionaltraitbasedapproachtounderstandtropicalforestcompositionandfunctioninacostaricanlandscape AT chainguadarramaadina functionaltraitbasedapproachtounderstandtropicalforestcompositionandfunctioninacostaricanlandscape
_version_	1808117619790708736

A functional trait based approach to understand tropical forest composition and function in a Costa Rican landscape

Similar Items