New World palm (Arecaceae) species richness in relation to mean climate variables

1
New World palm (Arecaceae) species richness in
relation to mean climate variables

• University of Arizona
• Semester Project, ATMO 529
• Brad Christoffersen
• December 05, 2007

2
Outline

• Background Motivation
• Methods of Analysis
• Upcoming Results
• Summary

3
Background and Motivation

• A little about palms
• Family Arecaceae
• Diverse habitats and hence morphologically
  diverse
• Key terms
• Species Richness (or Alpha diversity) The
  number of species in a given area.
• Beta diversity Change in species composition
  across a landscape from one area to another.
• Why study species diversity in a spatial context?
• Insight into how limiting factors control
  evolutionary processes of speciation and
  extinction.
• Provides basis for development of conservation
  areas.
• Extensive body of theory from community ecology.

4
(No Transcript)
5
Methods of Analysis

• Palms dataset
• What 1x1 degree grid of presence/absence data
  for 547 species of palms.
• Spatial Extent New World
• Calculated species richness by grid cell.
• Climate data
• What CRU TS2.1 0.5x0.5 degree grid of monthly
  precip and average temperature
• Spatial Extent Brazilian Amazon
• Plant rooting depth
• What Maximum Plant Available Water (PAW), from
  Kleidon et al. 2002

6
Methods of Analysis

• Palms dataset (Henderson et al. 2005)
• Structure into presence/absence for the 547
  species.
• Convert to relative abundance (0-1)
• EOF analysis of the matrix.
• Examine spatial pattern correlation among climate
  and dominant species range modes.

7
(No Transcript)
8
(No Transcript)
9
References

• Henderson, A., G. Galeano, and R. Bernal. 1995.
  Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas.
  Princeton University Press, Princeton, New
  Jersey, U.S.A.
• R Development Core Team (2007). R A language and
  environment for statistical computing. R
  Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna,
  Austria. ISBN 3-900051-07-0, URL
  http//www.R-project.org.
• Fields Development Team (2006). fields Tools for
  Spatial Data. National Center for Atmospheric
  Research, Boulder, CO. URL http//www.cgd.ucar.edu
  /Software/Fields.
• Ter Braak, C. J. F. (1986) Canonical
  correspondence analysis A new eigenvector
  technique for multivariate direct gradient
  analysis. Ecology 671167-1179.