Latitudinal and elevational gradients of fern diversity and community composition in Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands

• Applicant: Dr. Jürgen Kluge
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems
• Term: from 2009 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 96662960

To study the principle drivers that cause diversity patterns of pteridophytes, a detailed survey will be undertaken along five elevational gradients within one biogeographic region (Africa and adjacent Indian Ocean islands) with an underlying large-scale latitudinal gradient of 30°. The survey will be closely associated with the already established BRYOLAT project, which aims at explaining the respective patterns in the bryophyte vegetation at the same study sites. The mode of change of elevational richness patterns of pteridophytes along the latitudinal gradient and the comparison with the patterns simultaneously assessed for bryophytes will lead to further insight and a deeper understanding of environmental and other drivers of species richness, which are still hotly debated in current literature. As assessed for the first time, additional observations of the fertility status of the species will reveal insights into the population dynamics of pteridophyte assemblages and thus give the possibility to test the hypothesis of source–sink dynamics in its relative role in determining elevational richness patterns. The invitation to participate in the BRYOLAT project offers the unique opportunity of establishing a type of survey that can rarely be found: the comparison of richness patterns along two main gradient types of large spatial scales with two groups of organisms, which thus can be directly compared with respect to underlying drivers of species richness patterns.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Switzerland
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Michael Kessler