Abstract Detail

Biogeography

Simmons, Tracey [1], Betancourt, Austin [1], Carter, Benjamin [1], Misiewicz, Tracy [3].

Can we predict the range of an edaphic specialist tree using soil indicators?

The lowland Amazon rainforest is notable for its habitat heterogeneity based on a mosaic of soil types. Nutrient poor white-sand habitats are surrounded by more fertile brown-sand and clay soils. These steep edaphic gradients are thought to play an important role in lineage diversification, with many tree species endemic to either white-sand or clay and brown-sand habitats. Because natural selection acts on phenotype, we predict that adaptation onto different soil types will be associated with morphological variation across populations of widespread tree species. Here we test this prediction using Protium subserratum, a common, tropical tree found across the lowland Amazon basin and known to have morphologically distinct populations adapted to different soil types in Peru. We assess whether morphological variation observed in herbarium collections of P. subserratum from across the entire range are correlated with soil habitat type. We utilize digital soil maps from SoilGrids250m, which provides global predictions of soil properties at high-resolution (250m), as well as maps of known Amazon white sand forests. Occurrence points for white-sand habitat specialist taxa are also used as indicators of white sand soils that have yet to be identified. If soil preference is correlated with morphological variation, we will apply species distribution models to predict the range of each morphological lineage. Using soil predictors to estimate the range of soil specialist tree lineages can provide us insight into factors governing the distributions of Amazonian flora.

1 - San Jose State University, Dept. Of Biological Sciences, One Washington Square, San Jose, CA, 95192, United States
2 - San Jose State University, Dept. Of Biological Sciences, One Washington Square, San Jose, CA, 95192, United States
3 - University of Oklahoma, Microbial and Plant Biology, 770 Van Vleet Oval, Rm #208, Norman, OK, 73019, United States

Keywords:
geographic species distribution
amazon rainforest
habitat specialization
tropical trees
Soil.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Biogeography Posters
Location: Arizona Ballroom/Starr Pass
Date: Monday, July 29th, 2019
Time: 5:30 PM This poster will be presented at 5:30 pm. The Poster Session runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Posters with odd poster numbers are presented at 5:30 pm, and posters with even poster numbers are presented at 6:15 pm.
Number: PBG005
Abstract ID:462
Candidate for Awards:None