Diversité spécifique et regroupement d'espéces arborescentes en Forêt Guyanaise

Abstract

The high degree of diversity among arborescent species in tropical forests is both an ongoing source of scientific query and a major challenge in terms of gaining further knowledge on the working of the forest ecosystem. There are all sorts of hypotheses concerning maintenance of this diversity that are in disagreement as to the deterministic or stochastic nature of the mechanisms involved. In practise and to better grasp the problems raised, the diversity can be simplified by grouping species whose ecological behaviour is similar. The article presents a number of the theories on the maintenance of diversity and a summary of the approaches adopted for grouping species along with examples thereof taken from work done in French Guiana.