BACKGROUND Strong patterns of habitat association are frequent among tropical forest trees and contribute to the maintenance of biodiversity. The relation of edaphic differentiation to tradeoffs among leaf functional traits is less clear, but may provide insights into mechanisms of habitat partitioning in these species rich assemblages. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We quantify the leaf econ...

The analysis of the influence of edaphic finer textures, as a facilitating factor for the expansion of forest formations in the absence of fire, was possible thanks to rare characteristics found in a savanna fragment located in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. The total suppression of fire for over four decades, and the occurrence of two savanna physiognomies, cerrado sensu stricto and cerradão,...

The role of wildfires as the most significant source of disturbance in boreal forests has been equaled by clearcuts during the past five decades. Post-disturbance revegetation patterns are important because they have a direct influence on many ecological processes. However, the knowledge of post-disturbance changes in spatial patterns of forest cover is scarce, especially at large scales. We ex...

Four nodulating annual tropical wild legumes, viz., Alysicarpus monilifer, Desmodium triflorum, Indigofera linnaei and Tephrosia purpurea from three different regions in the Western Ghats ecosystem were investigated to assess their mycorrhizal status. The response ofvesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) root colonization and spore number to edaphicfactors such as soil moisture, pH and availabl...

Edaphic variation in plant community composition is widespread, yet its underlying mechanisms are rarely understood and often assumed to be physiological. In East African savannas, Acacia tree species segregate sharply across soils of differing parent material: the ant-defended whistling thorn, A. drepanolobium (ACDR), is monodominant on cracking clay vertisols that are nutrient rich but physic...

Land-use change can have significant impacts on soil conditions and microbial communities are likely to respond to these changes. However, such responses are poorly characterized as few studies have examined how specific changes in edaphic characteristics do, or do not, influence the composition of soil bacterial and fungal communities across land-use types. Soil samples were collected from fou...