Biology subjects

Chacon-Madrigal, E.

Publications and source records attributed to Chacon-Madrigal, E..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Plant diversity in diet of Costa Rican Primates in contrasting habitats: a meta-analysis

In human-modified tropical landscapes, the survival of arboreal vertebrates, particularly primates, depends on their plant dietary diversity. Here, we assessed diversity of plants included in the diet of Costa Rican non-human primates, CR-NHP (i.e. Alouatta palliata palliata, Ateles geoffroyi, Cebus imitator, and Saimiri oerstedii) inhabiting different habitat types across the country. Specifically, we assessed by analyzing 37 published and unpublished datasets: (i) richness and dietary -plant diversity, (ii) the {beta}-diversity of dietary plant species and the relative importance of plant species turnover and nestedness contributing to these patterns, and (iii) the main ecological drivers of the observed patterns in dietary plant . Diet data were available for 34 Alouatta, 16 Cebus, 8 Ateles, and 5 Saimiri groups. Overall dietary plant species richness was higher in Alouatta (476 spp.), followed by Ateles (329 spp.), Cebus (236 spp.), and Saimiri (183 spp.). However, rarefaction curves showed that -diversity of plant species was higher in Ateles than in the other three primate species. The {gamma}-diversity of plants was 868 species (95% C.I.=829-907 species). The three most frequently reported food species for all CR-NHP were Spondias mombin, Bursera simaruba, and Samanea saman. In general, plant species turnover, rather than nestedness, explained the dissimilarity in plant diet diversity ({beta}sim> 0.60) of CR_NHP. Finally, primate species, habitat type (life zone and disturbance level) and, to a lesser degree, sampling effort were the best predictors of the dietary plant assemblages. Our findings suggest that CR-NHP diets were diverse, even in severely-disturbed habitats.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2020

Quaternary climate change explains global patterns of tree beta-diversity

Both historical and contemporary environmental conditions determine present biodiversity patterns, but their relative importance is not well understood. One way to disentangle their relative effects is to assess how different dimensions of beta-diversity relate to past climatic changes, i.e., taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional compositional dissimilarity, and their components generated by replacement of species, lineages and traits (turnover) and richness changes (nestedness). Here, we quantify global patterns of each of these aspects of beta-diversity among neighboring sites for angiosperm trees using the most extensive global database of tree species-distributions (43,635 species). We found that temperature change since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was the major influence on both turnover and nestedness components of beta-diversity, with a negative correlation to turnover and a positive correlation to nestedness. Moreover, phylogenetic and functional nestedness was higher than expected from taxonomic beta-diversity in regions that experienced large temperature changes since the LGM. This pattern reflects relatively greater losses of phylogenetic and functional diversity in species-poor assemblages, possibly caused by phylogenetically and functionally selective species extinction and recolonization during glacial-interglacial oscillations. Our results send a strong warning that rapid anthropogenic climate change is likely to result in a long-lasting phylogenetic and functional compositional simplification, potentially impairing forest ecosystem functioning.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Half of the world's tree biodiversity is unprotected and is increasingly threatened by human activities

Although trees are key to ecosystem functioning, many forests and tree species across the globe face strong threats. Preserving areas of high biodiversity is a core priority for conservation; however, different dimensions of biodiversity and varied conservation targets make it difficult to respond effectively to this challenge. Here, we (i) identify priority areas for global tree conservation using comprehensive coverage of tree diversity based on taxonomy, phylogeny, and functional traits; and (ii) compare these findings to existing protected areas and global biodiversity conservation frameworks. We find that ca. 51% of the top-priority areas for tree biodiversity are located in current protected areas. The remaining half top-priority areas are subject to moderate to high human pressures, indicating conservation actions are needed to mitigate these human impacts. Our findings emphasize the effectiveness of using tree conservation priority areas for future global conservation planning.

ecology↗