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.