Multi-driver and multi-scale assessment of vine community structure and composition across a complex tropical environmental matrix

PLoS One. 2019 May 10;14(5):e0215274. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215274. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Ecological communities are structured by multiple processes operating at multiple scales yet understanding the scale-dependency of these processes remains an open challenge. This might be particularly true for parasites, for which biotic rather than abiotic processes may play a primary role in structuring communities. Focusing on vines, a group of structural parasites that gain access to the canopy using different climbing mechanisms, we examined the influence of abiotic factors in tandem with host-parasite and parasite-parasite interactions in the assembly of tropical vine communities. Two synthetic variables, namely Climate1 and landscape Variety, were consistently important in explaining variation in species richness and diversity, as well as species composition, but their importance varied with scale. Whereas Climate1 summarizes the largest variability among climatic variables, landscape Variety expresses landscape heterogeneity within a neighborhood. Significant patterns of species co-occurrences suggest that vine-vine interactions also contribute to vine community assembly. Our results may be critical to understand vine proliferation and help design management strategies for their control.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Biota
  • Plant Development*
  • Plants / classification*
  • Puerto Rico
  • Stress, Physiological

Associated data

  • Dryad/10.5061/dryad.mc443qs

Grants and funding

DD was supported through the Puerto Rico NSF LSAMP-Bridge to Doctoral Fellowship, and an Academic Merit and Outstanding Achievements and Golf Tournament fellowships from the Deanship of Graduate Studies and Research. Partial support for this work was provided by a FIPI grant from the Deanship of Graduate Studies of the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras campus (CR). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.