Neotropical Gradients and Their Analysis [E-Book]

1. Introduction. Randall W. Myster -- 2. Mountain gradients in the Neotropics, a bracken fern perspective. Jorge Luis Avila Nuęz, Maria Pia Calcagno-Pissarelli, Miguel E. Alonso-Amelot -- 3. Effects of agricultural expansion on lotic benthic macroinvertebrate communities: a review and case study from Brazil. Elaine C. Corrå and Ryan M. Utz -- 4. Plant competition across topographic gradients in Neotropical Cerrado savannas: an isotopic approach. Davi R. Rossatto and Augusto C. Franco -- 5. Diversity of aquatic macroinvertebrates along altitudinal gradients in Colombian. Cesar E. Tamaris-Turizo, Gabriel A. Pinilla-A and Juan D. Gonzl̀ez-Trujillo -- 6. Intraspecific trait variability of emblematic grass and tree species from Venezuelan savannas across extended physical gradients. Zdravko Baruch -- 7. Latitudinal trends in scorpion assemblages of Brazilian Atlantic Forest: do the Rapoport's and Bergmann's rules apply? Andr F̌.A. Lira, Alessandra R.S. Andrade and Stn̊io I.A. Foerster -- 8. Species diversity of three faunal communities along a successional cloud forest gradient. Juan Manuel Da̕z-Garca̕, Fabiola Lp̤ez-Barrera, Eduardo Pineda, Jorge Valenzuela-Gonzl̀ez and Adriana Sandoval-Comte -- -- 9. Ecohydrological gradient in Neotropical montane ecosystems: From tropical montane forests to glacier. Conrado Tobn̤, Erick Castro, and Jorge Lus̕ Ceballos -- 10. Communities of small terrestrial arthropods change rapidly along a Costa Rican elevation gradient. M. Alex Smith, Connor Warne, Kate Pare, Sarah Dolson, Elyssa Loewen, Kelsey Jones, Megan McPhee, Lauren Stitt, Lauren Janke, Rebecca M. Smith, Heather Coatsworth, Alexandre M. M. C. Loureiro, Angel Solis, Carlos F. Viquez, Josephine Rodriguez, Jose Fernandez-Triana, Michael J. Sharkey, James Whitfield, Alejandro Mass̕, Mara̕ Marta Chavarra̕, Roger Blanco, Felipe Chavarria, Eugenie Phillips-Rodrg̕uez, Roberto Fernǹdez, Dunia Garcia, Guillermo Pereira, Harry Ramirez, Manuel Pereira, Winnie Hallwachs and Daniel H. Janzen -- 11 Neotropical gradients of insect groups in Brazilian mountains. Lucas Neves Perillo, Frederico de Siqueira Neves, Flv̀io Siqueira de Castro and Ricardo Ribeiro de Castro Solar -- 12. Altitudinal Pattern of Soil Organic Carbon and Nutrients in a Tropical Forest in Puerto Rico. Dingfang Chen, Mei Yu, Grizelle Gonzl̀ez, Qiong Gao -- 13. Elevational and latitudinal species richness patterns of dung beetles in North and South America and the role played by historical factors. Jorge M. Lobo and Jos Ǧutiřrez -- 14. Diversity patterns of vascular plant groups along gradients of elevation and disturbance in Mexico. Jorge A. Gm̤ez-Da̕z, Alma P. Bautista-Bello, Cšar I. Carvajal-Hernǹdez, Valeria Guzmǹ-Jacob, Mara̕ Leticia Monge-Gonzl̀ez and Thorsten Krm̲er -- 15 Gradients and the Structure of Neotropical Metacommunities: Effects of Disturbance -- Elevation, Landscape Structure, and Biogeography. Steven J. Presley, Michael R. Willig -- 16. Socioecological gradients: contesting traditional ecoclines to explain the high biocultural diversity of the Andean verdant. Fausto Sarmiento, Andreas Haller, Domenico Branca, Christiam Aguirre, Vladimir Kremsa, Carla Marchant, Masahito Yoshida -- 17. Conclusions, synthesis and future directions. Randall W. Myster.

The importance of the Neotropics to the world's climate, biogeochemical cycling and biodiversity cannot be questioned. This book suggests that gradients are key to understanding both these issues and Neotropical ecosystem structure, function and dynamics in general. Those gradients are either spatial, temporal or spatio-temporal, where many temporal and spatio-temporal gradients are initiated by disturbances (e.g., tree-fall, landslide, cultivation). And in particular for the Neotropics, three large spatial gradients - latitude, longitude, altitude (elevation) - are of critical importance. The editor has over 30 years of experience investigating Neotropical gradients in Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Peru and Ecuador, and has published 5 previous books on different aspects of the Neotropics. Once again he has assembled top-shelf Neotropical scientists and researchers, here to focus on gradients: their nature, interactions and how they structure ecosystems.