Assessing and comparing relationships between ecosystem functioning and species diversity across forest ecosystems

"Ecosystems are the fundamental unit in ecology, it is at this level that fundamental processes for the ecosystem functions are made; in recent years it has been proved that this processes are positively related to the species diversity, nevertheless, there are no global studies that could actu...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: MARÍA DE LOURDES CADENA FERNÁNDEZ
Tipo de recurso: tesis de maestría
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2012
País:México
Institución:Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica
Repositorio:Repositorio Institucional del IPICYT
OAI Identifier:oai:ipicyt.repositorioinstitucional.mx:1010/1513
Acceso en línea:http://ipicyt.repositorioinstitucional.mx/jspui/handle/1010/1513
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:info:eu-repo/classification/Autor/Ecosystems
info:eu-repo/classification/Autor/Ecosystem function,
info:eu-repo/classification/Autor/Species diversity
info:eu-repo/classification/Autor/Monte Carlo Simulation.
info:eu-repo/classification/cti/2
info:eu-repo/classification/cti/24
info:eu-repo/classification/cti/2417
info:eu-repo/classification/cti/241713
Descripción
Sumario:"Ecosystems are the fundamental unit in ecology, it is at this level that fundamental processes for the ecosystem functions are made; in recent years it has been proved that this processes are positively related to the species diversity, nevertheless, there are no global studies that could actually define this relation. The principal goal for this research is to implement a new methodology to evaluate the relationships between ecosystem function and species diversity at a global scale. In order to use this methodology it was necessary to use the databases of A.H. Gentry from the SALVIAS project which contain information from more than 200 forests worldwide. With this information, Monte Carlo simulations were carried out (re-sampling proportional to the sample size) for each database, and the shape of the curve was observed as a result of the mean of the accumulated biomass groups as the species richness increased. Afterwards, regressions were applied (with the formula F = αSβ) in order to classify the curves according to the parameters of the curve α and β. These parameters were later compared with several biotic and abiotic factors (Holdridge life-zones, precipitation, elevation, latitude and species richness). We got 152 positive deceleration response curves, 39 positive quasilinear and 7 positive accelerative curves, a clear relationship was observed between α and β parameters and the Holdridge life-zones, in addition tendency curves were appreciated when comparing the parameters with elevation, latitude and species richness."