Fig 1.
Study region, biome boundaries and site locations.
Map of the five Brazilian biomes and 196 inventory sites collated in this study. Biome boundaries correspond to Veloso et al. [38] and are used throughout for all biome-level analyses. Point colors correspond to a hierarchal classification of sites based on a compositional dissimilarity matrix (see data analysis), and not geographic position. The Cerrado and Caatinga inventories grouped into a single cluster representing the larger Brazilian savanna belt. Mismatching colors (e.g., in Cerrado) occurs if sites do not cluster within their corresponding biome (i.e., due to differences in composition). Some sites are overlapping and not visible.
Table 1.
Annual climate averages for Brazilian biomes (sensu Veloso [38]).
Table 2.
Sampling trends in Brazilian biomes (sensu Veloso [38]).
Fig 2.
Principal coordinates ordination of vegetation assemblies in Brazilian wetlands.
The principal coordinates configuration is based on a pair-wise dissimilarity matrix using Forbes F´ index. The color scheme matches biomes sensu Veloso [38] in Fig 1. Environmental vectors are based on WorldClim climate data [41] and show maximal correlations with the configuration. Only uncorrelated (r < 0.7), statistically significant variables are shown.
Fig 3.
Regional wetland diversity in Brazilian biomes (sensu Veloso [38]).
Random curves were generated by repeated re-sampling of pooled sites within biomes (colored curves) or all sites combined (grey curve). The x-axis is rescaled to the number of individuals, based on the average number of stems per site of each biome.
Table 3.
For each biome, the number (and proportion) of tree species occurring in one, two, or more biomes (sensu Veloso [38]).
Fig 4.
Variation in Fisher’s alpha along four climate gradients.
Quantile regression fits are indicated with solid (tau = 0.1, 0.5, and 0.9) and dashed lines (tau = 0.3, 0.7). The color scheme matches biome colors in Fig 1.
Fig 5.
Comparison of log Fisher's alpha among biomes.
Significant differences were assessed using Tukey's Honest Significant Difference, with letters indicating group differences.