Soil and altitude drives diversity and functioning of Brazilian (Campo de Altitude)

Andreza Viana Neri, Gladson Ramon Alves Borges, João Augusto Alves Meira-Neto, Luiz Fernando Silva Magnago, Ian Michael Trotter, Carlos Ernesto G R Schaefer, Stefan Porembski

Abstract

The vegetation on Brazilian Páramos consists of assemblages that are driven mainly by the influence of strong environmental filtering. It is very important to understand the effect of environmental variation on taxonomic diversity and on functional diversity. Considering the lack of information about the functional diversity in Brazilian Páramos, we analyzed for the first time the effects of altitude and edaphic attributes on functional traits, as well as on taxonomic and functional diversity. We also wanted to answer the questions: Which ecological strategies are favorable in high-altitude grassland? Does soil attributes determine distributions of traits in high-altitude grassland? Considering the studied altitudinal gradient is altitude an important variable in the community assembly?