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<p>How species abundance distributions vary along gradients of climatic seasonality remains unclear, particularly in subtropical forests where macroecological structure is poorly understood. Here, we analyzed species abundance distributions (SADs) of tree assemblages across three forest zones in southern Brazil—the Semi-deciduous Forest (SDF), Serra Geral Deciduous Forest (SGD), and Upper Uruguay Deciduous Forest (AUD)—to assess their agreement with statistical models and predictions from the maximum entropy theory of ecology (METE). We compared the fit of the Zipf–Mandelbrot and lognormal models with METE predictions derived from species richness and total abundance. Assemblages differed in dominance structure and model fit, with SDF showing closer agreement with METE, AUD showing greater deviation, and SGD exhibiting intermediate patterns. The Zipf–Mandelbrot model provided the best fit across all forest zones. Despite these differences, Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence did not differ significantly among forest zones, indicating similar magnitudes of deviation from METE predictions. Assemblages that more closely matched METE predictions exhibited stronger dominance, whereas increased evenness was associated with greater deviation. Overall, these findings suggest that METE provides a statistical baseline for species abundance distributions, while observed patterns reflect ecological processes that modify this expectation along environmental gradients.</p>

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Species abundance distributions along a seasonality gradient in subtropical forests of southern Brazil

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月20日

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  • Alessandro Abreu Fávero,
  • Eleandro José Brun,
  • Flávia Gizele Konig Brun,
  • Solon Jonas Longhi

摘要

How species abundance distributions vary along gradients of climatic seasonality remains unclear, particularly in subtropical forests where macroecological structure is poorly understood. Here, we analyzed species abundance distributions (SADs) of tree assemblages across three forest zones in southern Brazil—the Semi-deciduous Forest (SDF), Serra Geral Deciduous Forest (SGD), and Upper Uruguay Deciduous Forest (AUD)—to assess their agreement with statistical models and predictions from the maximum entropy theory of ecology (METE). We compared the fit of the Zipf–Mandelbrot and lognormal models with METE predictions derived from species richness and total abundance. Assemblages differed in dominance structure and model fit, with SDF showing closer agreement with METE, AUD showing greater deviation, and SGD exhibiting intermediate patterns. The Zipf–Mandelbrot model provided the best fit across all forest zones. Despite these differences, Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence did not differ significantly among forest zones, indicating similar magnitudes of deviation from METE predictions. Assemblages that more closely matched METE predictions exhibited stronger dominance, whereas increased evenness was associated with greater deviation. Overall, these findings suggest that METE provides a statistical baseline for species abundance distributions, while observed patterns reflect ecological processes that modify this expectation along environmental gradients.