The effects of habitat fragmentation on the reproduction and abundance of Angadenia berteroi

作     者：Beyte Barrios Roque Suzanne Koptur Jay P.Sah 

作者机构：Plant Ecology LabDepartment of Biological SciencesFlorida International University11200 SW 8th StMiamiFL 33199USA South Florida Terrestrial Ecosystems LabSoutheast Environmental Research CenterFlorida International University11200 SW 8th STMiamiFL 33199USA 

出 版 物：《Journal of Plant Ecology》 (植物生态学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2017年第10卷第2期

页      面：340-348页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 071001[理学-植物学] 0830[工学-环境科学与工程（可授工学、理学、农学学位）] 07[理学] 0901[农学-作物学] 0902[农学-园艺学] 0713[理学-生态学] 

基　　金：Funding was provided to Beyte Barrios by The Florida Native Plant Society(2008 Endowment Research Grant) FIU Kelly Scholarships(2008,2009,2012,2013) the Catherine H.Beattie Fellowship(2009)from The Garden Club of America a Florida International University Doctoral Evidence Acquisition Fellowship(2014).Collections were made under permit#0080 from Natural Areas Management,Miami-Dade County and Everglades National Park Scientific research and collection permit#EVER-2013-SCI-0030.This is contribution#316 to the Tropical Biology Program and#785 to the Southeast Environmental Research Center(SERC)at Florida International University. 

主　　题：habitat fragmentation habitat quality isolation fire structural equation modeling reproductive fitness abundance 

摘      要：Aims The pine rocklands of southern Florida are a fire-dependent forest associated with outcrops of limestone.Pine rockland plants have sev-eral adaptations to fire,and for many species,burning increases plant growth,flowering and seedling establishment.The pine rockland forest has been reduced and fragmented in recent decades.Outside of Everglades National Park,only 2%of the original pine rocklands remain,and they are in the form of small fragments.Our objective is to investigate the effects of fragmentation and habitat quality on abun-dance and plant reproductive fitness of Angadenia berteroi(A.D.C.)Miers,a threatened species of the southern Florida pine rockland.Methods We estimated the density of plants using a stratified random sam-pling design,and reproductive fitness(in terms of percentage of plants with flowers and fruit)by walking transects in an array of habitat fragments of different sizes and degrees of isolation(distance to the nearest fragment)as well as in continuous habitat.Structural equation modeling(SEM)was employed to investigate how A.berteroi reproductive fitness was affected by fragmentation and habitat quality.Important Findings Habitat fragment size was correlated with the density of A.berteroi,but did not have a great impact on its reproductive success.However,habitat quality represented by litter depth and subcan-opy cover had strong negative effects on the reproductive fitness of A.berteroi,suggesting that increased light availability and low litter cover resulting from recent fires may favor reproduction.