Conclusions
In this study, we employed several spatial point pattern models to simultaneously investigate important ecological processes that are hypothesized to maintain species coexistence in tropical forests, i.e. habitat filtering, interspecific competition, stochasticity, and dispersal limitation. Using data from congeneric species in a harsh environment as a model, we demonstrated that habitat filtering to areas subject to flooding is the most important ecological process driving the local distribution of the species studied in a restinga forest. In this type of vegetation, there seems to be a clear division of tree species into either flood-tolerant or flood-intolerant (Oliveiraet al. , 2014). Given that restinga is highly threatened in Brazil (Alho et al. , 2002), the preservation of its different habitats is of utmost importance to the maintenance of high species richness and functional strategies. Additionally, flood-tolerant species present in, but not restricted to restinga communities provide an excellent model to the evaluation of niche breadth and position, interpopulation genetic variation, and local adaptation.