Deconstructing species richness–environment relationships in Neotropical lianas

Abstract

Aim: Studying species richness patterns by considering all species as equivalent units may prevent a deeper understanding of the origin and maintenance of biodiversity. Here, we deconstructed the species richness of Neotropical lianas by specific attributes of species to study richness–environment relationships.

Location: Neotropics

Taxon: Tribe Bignonieae (Bignoniaceae), the largest clade of Neotropical lianas

Methods: We used five morphological, one geographical and two evolutionary attributes of species, each with 2–7 attribute states. We compared the environmental response of species richness of each attribute state to the response of overall Bignonieae species richness. For those groups of species that differed in their environmental response to three-dimensional habitat structure, climate, and soil we assessed: (i) the magnitude and direction of the environmental response; and (ii) the variation in species richness explained by environmental variables and spat...