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The diversity of ground bryophyte communities along an altitudinal gradient on La Réunion island

Aim: To compare the α, β and phylogenetic diversity of the ground bryophyte communities along a tropical altitudinal gradient in order to determine which processes govern these assemblages. Location: La Réunion island (55°39'E; 21 °00'S), in the western Indian Ocean. Methods: The ground bryophyte co...

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Main Author: Lane, Wade Howard
Other Authors: Hedderson, Terry A
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Biological Sciences 2017
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access_status_str Open Access
author Lane, Wade Howard
author2 Hedderson, Terry A
author_browse Hedderson, Terry A
Lane, Wade Howard
author_facet Hedderson, Terry A
Lane, Wade Howard
author_sort Lane, Wade Howard
collection Thesis
description Aim: To compare the α, β and phylogenetic diversity of the ground bryophyte communities along a tropical altitudinal gradient in order to determine which processes govern these assemblages. Location: La Réunion island (55°39'E; 21 °00'S), in the western Indian Ocean. Methods: The ground bryophyte communities were surveyed along the eastern slope of Piton des Neiges (350 - 3050 m). α, β and phylogenetic diversity along the altitudinal gradient was determined and graphically presented. Results: The α diversity had two distinct peaks at 1150 - 1350 m and at 2750 m, these corresponded to a dominance in liverwort and moss species, respectively. The phylogenetic diversity along the altitudinal gradient was far greater than is predicted from the null models suggesting that ground bryophyte communities are structured according to "environmental filters". The mid-domain effect and mass effect could not be used to describe the changing diversity along the altitudinal gradient, however a correlation analysis revealed temperature and relative humidity influences the changing a diversity. Main Conclusions: In conclusion both ecological and evolutionary processes structure the ground bryophyte communities.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2017
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/26374 The diversity of ground bryophyte communities along an altitudinal gradient on La Réunion island Lane, Wade Howard Hedderson, Terry A Ah-Peng, Claudine Slingsby, Jasper A Botany Aim: To compare the α, β and phylogenetic diversity of the ground bryophyte communities along a tropical altitudinal gradient in order to determine which processes govern these assemblages. Location: La Réunion island (55°39'E; 21 °00'S), in the western Indian Ocean. Methods: The ground bryophyte communities were surveyed along the eastern slope of Piton des Neiges (350 - 3050 m). α, β and phylogenetic diversity along the altitudinal gradient was determined and graphically presented. Results: The α diversity had two distinct peaks at 1150 - 1350 m and at 2750 m, these corresponded to a dominance in liverwort and moss species, respectively. The phylogenetic diversity along the altitudinal gradient was far greater than is predicted from the null models suggesting that ground bryophyte communities are structured according to "environmental filters". The mid-domain effect and mass effect could not be used to describe the changing diversity along the altitudinal gradient, however a correlation analysis revealed temperature and relative humidity influences the changing a diversity. Main Conclusions: In conclusion both ecological and evolutionary processes structure the ground bryophyte communities. 2017-11-17T08:11:05Z 2017-11-17T08:11:05Z 2011 2017-02-01T13:09:44Z Bachelor Thesis Honours BSc (Hons) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26374 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Botany
Lane, Wade Howard
The diversity of ground bryophyte communities along an altitudinal gradient on La Réunion island
thesis_degree_str Bachelor's / Honours
title The diversity of ground bryophyte communities along an altitudinal gradient on La Réunion island
title_full The diversity of ground bryophyte communities along an altitudinal gradient on La Réunion island
title_fullStr The diversity of ground bryophyte communities along an altitudinal gradient on La Réunion island
title_full_unstemmed The diversity of ground bryophyte communities along an altitudinal gradient on La Réunion island
title_short The diversity of ground bryophyte communities along an altitudinal gradient on La Réunion island
title_sort diversity of ground bryophyte communities along an altitudinal gradient on la reunion island
topic Botany
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26374
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