Environmental heterogeneity influences liana community differentiation across a Neotropical rainforest landscape

We examined the variation in the liana community composition and structure across geopedological land units to test the hypothesis that environmental heterogeneity is a driving force in the liana community assembly. At the Los Tuxtlas Tropical Biology Station, SE Mexico (640 ha of tropical rain forest), we sampled all lianas with basal diameter ≥ 1 cm in three 0.5-ha plots established in each of five land units (totaling 15 plots and 7.5 ha). We censused 6055 individuals and 110 species. Overall, the most speciose families were also the most abundant ones. The density and basal area (m2) of some dominant liana species differed among land units, and a permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) and a non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination (NMDS) revealed differences in the presence, density, and basal area of liana species across the landscape. Liana composition and structure were highly heterogeneous among land units, suggesting that variations in soil water avai..., , , # Data from: Environmental heterogeneity influences liana community differentiation across a Neotropical rainforest landscape

The data come from old-growth forest plots in the Los Tuxtlas Tropical Biology Station (18° 34’ 30”-35’ 00” N, 95° 04-07’ 30” W), Veracruz state, southern Mexico. A total of 15 plots were established in five land unit forests (3 in each land unit) developing on different soils, elevations, and slopes.

We provided 8 Excel files. Each file contains a sheet explaining the metadata (descriptions and units) and another with the data used for particular analyses of the study.

File data 1. List of species sorted alphabetically and their respective contribution to the total density and basal area (m^2) in the Los Tuxtlas Tropical Biology Station.

File data 2. The proportion of species' density of dominant species relative to its total density in each land unit at the Los Tuxtlas Tropical Biology Station.

File data 3. The proportion of species' basal area of dominant...