INVESTIGADORES
GURVICH Diego Ezequiel
artículos
Título:
Predicting alpha and beta plant diversity from physiognomic and physical indicators as a tool for cosystem monitoring
Autor/es:
CINGOLANI AM, VAIERETTI V, GURVICH DE, GIORGIS MA, CABIDO M.
Revista:
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
Editorial:
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
Referencias:
Año: 2010 vol. 143 p. 2570 - 2577
ISSN:
0006-3207
Resumen:
We searched for predictive models for alpha, beta and gamma plant diversity based in easy to measure
field indicators. The study was conducted on the upper belt of the Córdoba mountains (Argentina). We
established 222 permanent plots of 4 4 m distributed on sites with different physiognomy, topography
and management. At each plot we measured physical and physiognomic indicators and recorded the
presence of all vascular plants. We estimated alpha diversity as the number of species detected in a plot,
beta diversity as the floristic dissimilarity between two plots, and gamma diversity as the number of species
detected in a landscape. Through linear regression we found predictive models for alpha and pairwise
beta diversity. Then we analysed if predicted average alpha and beta diversity were good estimators
of gamma diversity. We recorded a total of 288 species (574 species per plot). Alpha diversity was highest
in sites on shallow soils with high structural richness (i.e. high number of cover categories), half covered
by lawns, at sunny slopes and rough landscapes (r2 = 0.66). For beta diversity, the difference
between plots in structural richness and in cover of thick tussocks grasses and lawns were the best predictors
(r2 = 0.45). For different sets of simulated landscapes, gamma diversity was well explained by predicted
average alpha and beta diversity, plus the sampling effort (r2 = 0.92). We concluded that using easy
to measure field indicators it is possible to estimate plant diversity at different levels with a good
accuracy.