Flooded and Riparian Habitats in the Tropics Community Definitions
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Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-13431-7 — Primates in Flooded Habitats Edited by Katarzyna Nowak , Adrian A. Barnett , Ikki Matsuda Excerpt More Information 2 Part I Introduction Chapter Flooded and Riparian Habitats in the Tropics 2 Community Definitions and Ecological Summaries Amy C. Bennett, Pia Parolin, Leandro V. Ferreira, Ikki Matsuda and Neil D. Burgess Introduction Various kinds of tropical flooded and riparian wetland habitats are inhabited by members of the Primate order (the Wetlands occupy the interface between fully terrestrial and topic of this volume), but many primate studies have used aquatic ecosystems, making them inherently different from inconsistent terms for flooded habitat types. Here, we sum- both systems yet dependent on both (Mitsch & Gosselink marize the ecology of flooded and riparian habitats in South 2007). A number of distinct types of flooded and riparian wet- and Central America, Africa and Asia and define habitats land habitats occur in the tropics, including those with sea- used by primates and employed throughout this volume. sonal or permanent inundation (Kalliola et al. 1991), with Habitats include lowland tropical floodplain forest, riverine or without the influence of salt. Riverine margins and river and gallery forest, river delta, swamp forest(s), mangroves, deltas can also contain flooded habitats. For example, seasonal oxbow lakes, reedbed/ papyrus, seasonally flooded grassland floods can submerge riparian forests alongside rivers, some- and intertidal zones. times extending several kilometres from the riverbank, with permanent and seasonal wetlands connected to the floodwater (Gautier- Hion & Brugière 2005). Definition of Habitats Vascular plant species evolved and diversified in terres- In the following sections, we describe the major tropical wet- trial ecosystems and, in general, die more readily in response land habitats of importance to primates. to flooding than to desiccation (Larcher 1994). In tropical wetlands, the constraints imposed by flooding are even more Lowland Tropical Floodplain Forest pronounced as high ambient temperatures result in high rates of plant metabolism. Inundation causes drastic changes in the Definition bioavailability of nutrients, oxygen levels, and concentrations of Floodplains are highly dynamic, where the aquatic and ter- phytotoxins (Parolin et al. 2004), with oxygen rapidly consumed restrial transition zone (the whole floodplain area) alternates by respiring roots and microorganisms and soils becoming hyp- between wet and dry, with a moving littoral region (Junk oxic or anoxic within a few hours of flooding (Visser et al. 2003). et al. 1989). The natural disturbance caused (Leyer 2006), and Oxygen depletion is accompanied by increased levels of carbon materials deposited (Maddock 1976), by flooding produce dioxide, anaerobic decomposition of organic matter, increased diverse floodplain structures. Forests growing on floodplains solubility of mineral substances and reduction of the soil redox often include three layers of vegetation: a canopy layer of mature potential (Vartapetian et al. 2003), followed by the accumula- trees, saplings and shrubs in the understory and herbaceous tion of potentially toxic compounds (Ponnamperuma 1984). plants and tree seedlings covering the ground (Yin 1998). Only those plant species adapted to these conditions persist in these habitats (De Oliveira et al. 2014). Neotropics Tropical wetlands have characteristic vegetation zones, with Several extensive freshwater floodplains occur in tropical the most tolerant species growing in areas subject to longer and America: the Amazon (Toivonen et al. 2007), Orinoco (Rosales deeper flooding. In the Amazon, flood waters can be 15 m deep et al. 2002), Pantanal (Junk & Nunes da Cunha 2005) and and remain for up to 9 months, but trees survive and remain Paraguay/ Paraná (Galán de Mera & Perea 2008). The Amazon rooted in the soil (Junk et al. 1989). A regular periodicity of floodplain is mostly forested, whereas the Orinoco, Pantanal flooding is important to allow plants to evolve and adapt (the and Paraguay/ Paraná are dominated by grasslands. The lar- ‘Flood Pulse Concept’: Junk et al. 1989; Junk & Wantzen 2004), gest floodplain forests of the Amazon are characterized by so in wetlands with unpredictable flooding, such adaptations immense cyclic water- level fluctuations; a flood pulse produces are rare and plant diversity is lower. water depths up to 12–15 m and flood durations between 50 Species richness and the number of endemic plant species and 210 days per year (Junk et al. 1989). As a result, ecological in most tropical wetlands is low, with two exceptions: the processes, including plant reproductive cycles (e.g. flowering, Everglades and Amazonia (Junk et al. 2006; Slik et al. 2015; fruiting) and animals’ seasonal movements and migrations are Wittmann et al. 2013). synchronized with the flooding period (Schöngart et al. 2002). 2 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-13431-7 — Primates in Flooded Habitats Edited by Katarzyna Nowak , Adrian A. Barnett , Ikki Matsuda Excerpt More Information 3 Chapter 2: Vegetation Types: Variety and Definitions In contrast, flood tolerance and responses to inundation cycles (Corlett 2009), although much has now been converted to oil varies greatly between species (Parolin 2001), resulting in a palm (Abram et al. 2014; Runting et al. 2015). In south central mosaic of habitats within and between floodplain ecosystems Cambodia, the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers join forming the (Wittmann et al. 2013). lower Mekong floodplain (70 000 km2) (Rainboth 1996). The Two types of floodplain forest exist in the Amazon, Tonle Sap is highly seasonal and flooding in the wet season can determined by the water quality of the flooding rivers (Prance inundate ten times the area of the dry season (Arias et al. 2013, 1979). Várzeas form along the banks of whitewater rivers, 2014a). On the edge of the permanent Tonle Sap lake is a tall strip which are nutrient rich, originate in the Andes and have a high of forest which acts as a physical barrier between the open lake sediment load. Igapós form along the banks of blackwater and and the floodplain (Ariaset al. 2014b; Kummu & Sarkkula 2008). clearwater rivers, both with low sediment loads; their flooded The forests of Borneo, are one of the most species- rich soils have low nutrient contents (Furch 1997). Seven per cent habitats on earth (Whitten et al. 2004), with 60% higher bio- of the Brazilian Amazon (400 000 km2) can be categorized as mass than the Amazon (Slik et al. 2010). The Kinabatangan floodplain forest, with approximately 300 000 km2 covered River, 560 km long, is the longest river in Sabah and is made by várzea and 100 000 km2 covered by igapó. The Amazonian up of a patchwork of different habitat types, i.e. riverine forest, várzea is the most species-diverse floodplain forest in the seasonally flooded forest, swamp forest, dry dipterocarp forest world (Wittmann et al. 2006). Characteristic plant genera and mangrove (Boonratana 2000a; Sha et al. 2011; Chapter 4). of both habitats include Aldina (Fabaceae: Papilionoidae), This area sustains one of the world’s richest primate ecosystems Amanoa (Euphorbiaceae), Buchenavea (Combretaceae), inhabited by ten species; five of these endemic to Borneo: the Elaeoluma (Sapotaceae), Eschweilera (Lecythidaceae), Hevea Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), Bornean gibbon (Euphorbiaceae), Hydrochorea (Fabaceae: Mimoidoidae), Mabea (Hylobates muelleri), proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus), red (Euphorbiaceae), Macrolobium (Fabaceae: Caesalpinoidae) leaf monkey (Presbytis rubicunda) and Hose’s langur (Presbytis and Pouteria (Sapotaceae). Research on primates in these hosei) (see Chapter 29). habitats includes studies of white uacaris (Cacajao calvus calvus: de Alecântara Cardoso et al. 2014), red uacaris (Cacajao Riverine and Gallery Forest c. ucayalii: Bowler & Bodmer 2011; Bowler et al. 2012), golden- backed uacaris (Cacajao ouakary: Barnett et al. 2005, 2012c; Definition Bezerra et al. 2011; Defler 2001), squirrel monkeys (Saimiri The terms ‘riverine’ and ‘gallery’ forest are often used inter- vanzolinii, S. sciureus: Paim et al. 2013) and assemblage-level changeably as both form forested riparian corridors in other- studies of Alouatta, Ateles, Cebus, Pithecia, Saimiri, Saguinus wise grass- dominated or savanna-woodland ecosystems. and Sapajus (e.g. Haugaasen & Peres 2005a, 2009). However, these two habitat types can be distinguished (Kingdon et al. 2013). Riverine forests grow along the banks of rivers or Africa streams where the soil is moister than the surrounding area. In the Congo Basin, forested floodplains extend along the Immediately next to the river, the soils are fertile, the under- Congo River and its tributaries. A geographical depression, the story is green and moist with little grass, and hence these areas cuvette centrale congolaise, located at the centre of the Congo rarely burn. These factors are more important in determining Basin, supports swamps and wetlands intermixed with low- the vegetation of the riverine edge than the surrounding cli- land rainforest. In the more permanently flooded areas, the mate (Emmerich 1990). Riverine forest strips are periodically canopy is 30– 35 m and trees often have stilt roots. The upper flooded when the river bursts its banks; which can occur annu- floodplain is well drained in periods of low water, but is flooded ally, more than