Data from: Life-history strategies drive plant species richness patterns in the Atlantic Forest hotspot

Aim: The underlying processes driving the origin and spatial variation of
species richness stand as one of the most fundamental and enigmatic
questions in ecology. Here, we assess the roles of water availability,
energy availability, climatic seasonality, physiological tolerance,
historical climate stability, topographic heterogeneity, and the
mid-domain effect in shaping spatial richness variation among various
plants of the Atlantic Forest. Location: Atlantic Forest Hotspot, South
America. Taxon: 14,037 species of vascular plants (angiosperms and
gymnosperms), including trees, lianas, shrubs, subshrubs, terrestrial
herbs and epiphytic herbs. Methods: We employed stacked ecological niche
modeling to estimate species richness across different plant life forms.
We then applied spatial models and hierarchical partitioning to assess the
role and significance of each hypothesis in explaining species diversity
variation. Results: Spatial richness variation in the Atlantic Forest
results from the interplay of multiple drivers, with effects differing
among plant life forms. Overall, regions with higher energy availability,
lower temperature seasonality, higher temperature stability but lower
precipitation stability over the last 21,000 years, and more complex
topography harbored more species. However, the effects of water stress and
cold sensitivity contrasted among life forms. Main
conclusions: Observed species richness variation among life forms
is primarily rooted in their life-history strategies. Trees and lianas
exhibited lower sensitivity to water stress but were less tolerant to cold
extremes, whereas subshrubs and terrestrial herbs showed the opposite
pattern, with lower tolerance to water stress but greater cold tolerance.
Shrubs and epiphytic herbs displayed an intermediate pattern, combining
the reduced sensitivity to water stress of trees and lianas with the
higher cold tolerance of subshrubs and terrestrial herbs. Our study
deepens the understanding of the factors shaping Atlantic Forest diversity
and opens new pathways for predicting and managing large-scale impacts of
human activities.