Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Functional Diversity of Reproductive Traits
When using the number of reproductive categories (see Table 1) and the species
richness per category, fragments were significantly less diversified (H
′
) with respect
to pollination systems (−18.4%) and floral types (−12.65%) in comparison with
control plots (Table 4). Simpson's values also evidenced fragments with signifi-
cant lower functional diversity of pollination systems (Table 4). Differences were
much more expressive, both biologically and statistically, when using number of
categories (as equivalent of species) and number of individuals within categories
for calculating diversity indices. In this case, fragments were significantly less di-
versified (H
′
scores) not only in terms of pollination systems (−30.3%) and floral
types (−23.6%), but they also presented significant lower functional diversity of
floral sizes (−20.8%) in contrast with control plots (Table 4). Simpson's values also
evidenced fragments with significant reduced functional diversity of pollination
systems (−20.7%) and floral types (−19.62%) (Table 4). Based on Simpson's in-
dex, fragments were slightly more diversified than control plots in terms of floral
rewards, however, when applying Bonferroni correction, values for floral rewards
were not significantly different any more (Table 4).
Table 4.
Functional diversity (mean±SD) of pollination systems, floral size, floral type and floral reward
categories in tree assemblages of forest fragments (N = 10) and control plots (N = 10) in a fragmented landscape
of Atlantic forest, northeastern Brazil.
Discussion
Patterns and Underlying Mechanisms
Our findings suggest that habitat fragmentation promotes marked changes in
both the presence and relative abundance of the reproductive traits of tree spe-
cies, resulting in a reduced functional diversity of tree assemblages in forest
