Fig 1.
Conceptual model for the analysis of the relationships between turnover rates, aboveground woody productivity (AGWP), and biomass (AGB) including forest structure and environmental descriptors.
Bidirectional arrows indicate potential two-way relationships.
Fig 2.
Geographical distribution of forest plots used in this study.
Fig 3.
Principal component analysis (PCA) on nine environmental variables of all plots and bioregion.
PCA axis 1 largely represents decreasing moisture supply, while axis 2 is mostly associated with increasing temperatures. See correlations between PCA variables in S2 Table and S2 Fig.
Table 1.
Loadings and variation explained by three major axes of variation using nine environmental variables recorded for 50 permanent plots in Venezuelan forests.
In bold the variables with loadings above 0.3 for each PCA Axis. PCA axis 1 largely represents decreasing moisture supply, while axis 2 is mostly associated with increasing temperatures.
Fig 4.
General distribution of mortality and recruitment rates classified by region.
Red line in the histograms represent the average for both demographic rates. Red line in the scatter plot is a linear fit between mortality and recruitment.
Table 2.
Summary results of three groups of forest metrics for six major bioregions in Venezuelan forests.
Values are means ± standard errors. Tests for differences among regions are provided. In bold the highest value for each variable.
Fig 5.
Boxplots of A) turnover rates; B) Aboveground biomass; and C) Wood productivity, including the results of pos-hoc grouping tests by region. Red dots indicate the average for each variable in each region. Gray dashed line is the overall mean for each variable. Statistical significant differences were found for turnover (F44,5 = 10.39; p < 0.001), AGB (F44,5 = 7.008; p < 0.001), and AGWP (F44,5 = 3.284; p < 0.05).
Fig 6.
Relationships between turnover rates (A-B), aboveground biomass (C-D), and aboveground woody productivity (E-F) with two PCA axes by region. Red dashed line indicates the “zero” value for the scores in each axis. For details on direction of the vectors and loadings see Fig 3 and Table 1.
Table 3.
General correlations (R2) between turnover rates, aboveground biomass and woody productivity and three groups of explanatory variables.
Numbers in bold highlight the significant correlations, with numbers in parenthesis indicating the p-value.
Fig 7.
AGB relationships with AGWP (A & E), AGB loss (B & F), recruitment rate (C & G), and mortality rate (D & H). Upper panel depicts linear fits for every region. Bottom panels represents a linear fit for all data combined. Red dashed lines are the arithmetic mean for each variable.