Abundance and species richness of ferns on the western slopes of the Andes
(2022) BIOY01 20212Degree Projects in Biology
- Abstract
- The impact of climate change is increasingly being investigated over elevational gradients as they provide natural laboratories to study how species of plants and animals respond to changes in temperature, precipitation and other factors. Ferns are especially sensitive to air humidity and temperature and can therefore serve as potentially useful bioindicators. To better understand how species communities change over an elevational transect, I recorded fern species richness and abundance on the western slopes of the Andes (situated in the Pichincha province of Ecuador) to see how these parameters correlate with elevation and other factors. In the same study, the number of epiphytes were recorded and the available substrate (tree stems) was... (More)
- The impact of climate change is increasingly being investigated over elevational gradients as they provide natural laboratories to study how species of plants and animals respond to changes in temperature, precipitation and other factors. Ferns are especially sensitive to air humidity and temperature and can therefore serve as potentially useful bioindicators. To better understand how species communities change over an elevational transect, I recorded fern species richness and abundance on the western slopes of the Andes (situated in the Pichincha province of Ecuador) to see how these parameters correlate with elevation and other factors. In the same study, the number of epiphytes were recorded and the available substrate (tree stems) was also measured. The transect included 7 localities and reached from 400 m up to 2350 m altitude. A total of 180 morphospecies were recorded in the 28 plots investigated. The peak of both species richness and abundance was found at the highest altitudes (2270-2350 m), resulting in positive linear relationships with altitude for both parameters. Although the number of epiphytic species tended to increase with increasing substrate, no significant relationship was found. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- Abundance and species richness of ferns on the western slopes of the Andes
Tropical cloud forests provide important ecosystems services such as storing large amounts of carbon and holding water to stop valleys from flooding. Many plant and animal species are restricted to these kinds of forests. Still, these extremely diverse ecosystems are threatened by human activities such as agriculture as well as anticipated climate change. In the Andes of Ecuador, it is possible to study species variation over elevational gradients which is interesting as they provide a laboratory of a changing climate on a local scale. Ferns are plants derived from some of the earliest plants on earth and they are extremely abundant in the Andean cloud forests.... (More) - Abundance and species richness of ferns on the western slopes of the Andes
Tropical cloud forests provide important ecosystems services such as storing large amounts of carbon and holding water to stop valleys from flooding. Many plant and animal species are restricted to these kinds of forests. Still, these extremely diverse ecosystems are threatened by human activities such as agriculture as well as anticipated climate change. In the Andes of Ecuador, it is possible to study species variation over elevational gradients which is interesting as they provide a laboratory of a changing climate on a local scale. Ferns are plants derived from some of the earliest plants on earth and they are extremely abundant in the Andean cloud forests. To be able to determine what conservational actions are needed here for ferns, I studied fern species richness and abundance at 7 localities, making up an elevational gradient ranging between 400 m to 2350 m of altitude.
Looking at diversification and abundance of species over altitudinal gradients enables studying how climatic factors such as temperature, potential evapotranspiration, length of growing season, humidity, air pressure, nutrient availability, ultraviolet radiation and rainfall affects the species in question. Of course, all these factors interact and affect each other, but when looking at ferns species richness and abundance moisture is the most driving factor.
Ferns need water to be able reproduce sexually and are therefore dependant on high air humidity and rainfall. Furthermore, earlier studies have found that ferns are highly diverse and abundant on altitudes with stable climate conditions. In the western slopes of the Andes in Ecuador, water availability increases with altitude as the cloud condenses at higher altitudes and the precipitation is largest at around 1000-2000 m altitude. Previous studies has found that the most climatically stable conditions in these forests are found at 1500-2000 m of altitude and it can therefore be expected that fern species richness and abundance are highest at these altitudes.
The results from this study show that all altitudes studied are important for ferns species richness. Many of the collected species were only present at one locality and some of the species were present at all localities. The species richness and abundance peaked at 2270-2350 m, and were high between 1200-2350 m which is in linage with what has been found before.
The Andean forests are cut down to make space for mines and agriculture and other human activities. But in conclusion, connectivity for fern dispersal in these forests is not only needed on a latitudinal and longitudinal level, but also over elevation.
Bachelor’s Degree Project in Biology 30 credits, April 2022
Department of biology, Lund University
Supervisors: Bertil Ståhl and Stefan Andersson (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9079201
- author
- Gredeby, Alice
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BIOY01 20212
- year
- 2022
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9079201
- date added to LUP
- 2022-05-11 14:15:33
- date last changed
- 2022-05-11 14:15:33
@misc{9079201,
abstract = {{The impact of climate change is increasingly being investigated over elevational gradients as they provide natural laboratories to study how species of plants and animals respond to changes in temperature, precipitation and other factors. Ferns are especially sensitive to air humidity and temperature and can therefore serve as potentially useful bioindicators. To better understand how species communities change over an elevational transect, I recorded fern species richness and abundance on the western slopes of the Andes (situated in the Pichincha province of Ecuador) to see how these parameters correlate with elevation and other factors. In the same study, the number of epiphytes were recorded and the available substrate (tree stems) was also measured. The transect included 7 localities and reached from 400 m up to 2350 m altitude. A total of 180 morphospecies were recorded in the 28 plots investigated. The peak of both species richness and abundance was found at the highest altitudes (2270-2350 m), resulting in positive linear relationships with altitude for both parameters. Although the number of epiphytic species tended to increase with increasing substrate, no significant relationship was found.}},
author = {{Gredeby, Alice}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Abundance and species richness of ferns on the western slopes of the Andes}},
year = {{2022}},
}