Botanical Literature Details

• Author(s)

  Oliveira, Alexandre A. de, Mori, S. A.

• Article or Chapter Title

  A central Amazonian terra firme forest. I. High tree species richness on poor soils.

• Year

  1999

• Journal or Book

  Biodiversity and Conservation. 8(9): 1219-1244

• Notes

  Abstract
  
  Tree size, density, and species richness were established for three one-hectare plots of terra fume forest in central Amazonian Brazil. In the three hectares, 1916 individual trees with DBH greater than or equal to10 cm were sampled. A total of 58 families, 181 genera, and 513 species were determined. Hectare A had 285 species, 138 genera, and 47 families; hectare B 280 species, 123 genera, and 48 families; and hectare C 280 species, 125 genera, and 44 families. Comparably high species richness in Amazonia has heretofore only been reported from western Amazonia. This dispels the idea that high species richness can only develop in areas with rich soils and relatively high rainfall. It is suggested that such high species richness is the result of a combination of habitat heterogeneity and geological history. These high diversity forests, because they occur on nutrient poor soils, can be protected with little or no impact on development in the region because the'soils are essentially useless for agriculture and for supporting long-tenn cattle pasture.
  
  Additional notes
  
  The Lecythidaceae were represented by 32 species in the three hectares sampled. Sapotaceae (59 spp.), Lauraceae (33 spp.), and all of the legumes considered together (65 ssp. with 13 caesalpinioids, 25 mimosoids, and 27 papilionoids) were more speciose in the three hectares sampled. Chrysobalanaceae, with 30 species, was nearly as speciose as the Lecythidaceae. Only a single Brazil nut tree, with 115 cm DBH, was found in the plot and by 2008 that tree was not longer there.
  
  KEYWORDS = Amazonia, Lecythidaceae ecology, species richness, terra firme forest