Plant communities of a semi-deciduous tropical rainforest in north-western Uganda: role of soil and anthropogenic factors
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Date
2008
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Phytocoenologia
Abstract
Forest plant communities were described using two floristic data sets (accompanied by data on soil and
former management practices) from the Budongo Forest Reserve (BFR), Uganda – a semi-deciduous tropical rainforest.
The first data set featured species basal-area data for woody species, while the other data set featured abundance
for woody plants of stem diameter ≥ 2.0 cm. Four forest community types: Pseudospondias microcarpa Swamp
Forest, Funtumia elastica-Pouteria altissima Forest, Lasiodiscus mildbraedii-Khaya anthotheca Forest, and Cynometra
alexandri-Rinorea ilicifolia Forest were distinguished. Each community is characterised by a group of species,
however, there are a considerable number of species shared by all four communities. The forest communities show
clear separation along gradients of screened soil characteristics (i.e. Organic matter, Na, N, Ca, Mg, and Si), corroborating
the results suggested by the canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). For the species basal-area data, Axes 1
and 2 of the CCA explained 18 % in species, and 34 % of the variance in species-environment relations. Whereas, for
the abundance data, the amount of information accounted for by the first two axes was 25 % and 44 %, in species
variance and species-environment relations, respectively. Axis 1 of CCA was strongly correlated with soil nutrients,
while Axis 2 was correlated with logging and arboricide treatment. Accordingly we interpret Axis 1 as an edaphic
gradient, while Axis 2 is depicting an anthropogenic disturbance gradient.
Description
Keywords
ANOSIM, Arboricide treatment, CCA, Cluster analysis
Citation
Mwavu, EN, Witkowski, ETF, & Mugina, L. (2008). Plant communities of a semi-deciduous tropical rainforest in north-western Uganda: role of soil and anthropogenic factors. DOI: 10.1127/0340 – 269X/2008/0038 – 0193