Resumen

FERNANDEZ-MENDEZ, Fernando; BERNATE-PENA, Jonny F.  y  MELO, Omar. TREE'S DIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION PRIORITIES OF TROPICAL DRY FORESTS OF THE SOUTHERN TOLIMA ON THE MAGDALENA RIVER VALLEY, COLOMBIA. Actu Biol [online]. 2013, vol.35, n.99, pp.161-183. ISSN 0304-3584.

Floristic diversity was evaluated in twelve tropical dry forest fragments of seven municipalities in southern Tolima (Colombia) in the strategic Tatacoa ecoregion and its area of influence in the upper Magdalena. A network of 12 plots of 50 x 50 m (0.25 ha), one in each fragment, was established, registering all individuals with dbh greater than 5 cm. 121 morphospecies were found grouped into 41 families. The richness ranged from 15 to 34 species per plot, allowing a classification of vegetation cover in different categories of diversity indices such as richness and uniformity. We determined the estimated richness, whose maximum values varied between 44 and 46 species. The plots with the highest number of unique species reached values between 9 and 11, while higher values of unitary abundantly unique species were between 3 and 5. The relative abundance model that best described the studied forests was the logarithmic series; however, with early succession plots the geometric series considerably improved fit. Log-normal and Broken Stick models tended to yield intermediate fits. Furthermore, the beta diversity relationships for these forests exceeded 50% similarity. The results permit a prioritization of these forests based on plant diversity and rarity in ters of their potential for future conservation and restoration of tropical dry forest of the upper Magdalena.

Palabras clave : abundance models; alfa diversity; upper Magdalena; beta diversity; Colombia; unique species; species rarity.

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