Abstract

STEVENSON, Pablo R.  and  RODRIGUEZ, María Elizabeth. Determinants of floristic composition and edge effect in a forest fragment of Guaviare, Colombian Amazon. Colomb. for. [online]. 2008, vol.11, n.1, pp.5-17. ISSN 0120-0739.

Forest fragmentation generates changes in biotic and abiotic factors of remnants. The aim of this study was to describe the floral composition of a forest fragment in Guaviare, Colombia, in relation to the edge effect and abiotic factors. Ten plots of 100 m x 10 m were established and all tree species (DBH≥10 cm) were sampled. The importance value index showed that the most important species in the fragment were Iriartea deltoidea, Croton matourensis, and Pourouma minor. Additionally, it was established that the species found near the edge were mainly pioneer plants (small seeded species) while the species away from it corresponded primarily to mature forest plants (with large seeds). An ordination demonstrated that each plot had a relatively different floristic composition, which could not be explained by soil composition or temperature. However, humidity seems to play an important role. The distance between plots was not a good predictior of floristic affinities, suggesting that when the seed dispersal vectors are maintained, dispersal limitation has weak effects at the spatial scales studied. The fragment exhibits typical elements of a successional process, although it harbors a high species diversity from the original forest. We conclude that fragmentation has caused changes in terms of floral composition, and its necessary to take measures to stop this process in order to maintain part of the floristic composition and the ecological processes of the native forests.

Keywords : Fragmentation; edge effect; pioneer plants; floristic composition; Guaviare.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )