Data from: Climate severity and land-cover transformation determine plant community attributes in Colombian dry forests

Tropical dry forests (TDF) are known to be resource-limited due to a
marked seasonality in precipitation. However, TDF are also shaped by
factors such as solar radiation, wind speed, soil fertility and land-cover
transformation. Together, these factors may determine gradients of
environmental harshness, that are likely to drive changes in plant
community attributes. Here we evaluated the effects of environmental
harshness on plant community diversity and structure of Colombian TDF
based on floristic and environmental data from 15 1-ha permanent plots. We
also analyzed effects on groups of legumes species only (including
deciduous and non-deciduous species), deciduous species only (including
legumes and non-legumes species), and the whole community excluding either
legumes or deciduous separately. Drier conditions and higher land-cover
transformation had the strongest negative effects on species diversity,
basal area and canopy height. Soil fertility, on the contrary, did not
have a significant effects on any of the evaluated variables.
Interestingly, legumes maintained their diversity and basal area along the
climatic gradient, while deciduous species were negatively affected by
drier conditions and an increase in secondary vegetation at the landscape
level. Our results suggest that although TDF are limited by water
availability, land-cover transformation strongly increases environmental
harshness. Yet, both legumes group and deciduous group were differentially
impacted by climatic and land transformation variables. Thus, to better
understand TDF plant community attributes, it is necessary to consider
these gradients and to disentangle their effects on different plant
functional groups.