Ecophysiological traits of plant functional groups in forest and pasture ecosystems from eastern Amazonia, Brazil

The plant functional group approach has the potential to clarify ecological patterns and is of particular importance in simplifying the application of ecological models in high biodiversity ecosystems. Six functional groups (pasture grass, pasture sapling, top-canopy tree, top-canopy liana, mid canopy tree, and understory tree) were established a priori based on ecosystem inhabited, life form, and position within the forest canopy profile on eastern Amazonian region. Ecophysiological traits related to photosynthetic gas exchange were then used to characterize such groups. The ecophysiological traits evaluated showed considerable variations among groups. The pasture grass functional group (a C-4 photosynthetic pathway species) showed high instantaneous water use efficiency (A (max)/g (s)@A (max)), high photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (A (max)/N (area)), and high ratio of A (max) to dark respiration (A (max)/R (d)). Among the species with the C-3 photosynthetic pathway, the top-canopy liana group showed the highest mean of A (max)/g (s)@A (max), statistically distinct from the lowest average presented by the understory tree group. Furthermore, the pasture sapling group showed the lowest average of A (max)/R (d), statistically distinct from the high average observed for the understory tree group. Welch-ANOVAs followed by Games-Howell post hoc tests applied to ecophysiological traits produced reasonable distinctions among functional groups, although no significant distinction was detected between the groups top-canopy tree and pasture sapling. Species distribution within the functional groups was accurately reproduced by discriminant analyses based on species averages of ecophysiological traits. The present work convincingly shows that the functional groups identified have distinct ecophysiological characteristics, with the potential to respond differently to environmental factors. Such information is of great importance in modeling efforts that evaluate the effects of dynamic changes in tropical plant communities over ecosystem primary productivity.