Elevational Pattern of Leaf Mine Diversity on Quercus variabilis Blume at Baotianman, Henan, China

The species composition and diversity pattern of leaf miners on dominant trees in China are poorly understood. Using Hill-based diversity metrics, the elevational patterns of taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity for leaf miners on Quercus variabilis Blume at Baotianman were systematically analyzed. Leaf mine types belonged to ten genera and seven families. Different leaf miners had different elevational preferences. Most taxonomic and phylogenetic Hill diversity indices had typical hump-shaped elevational patterns, with a peak at the middle elevation of approximately 875 m. No functional Hill diversity indices presented significant linear or nonlinear trends with altitude. The driving factors behind the elevational distribution patterns of leaf miners require further work.

Soil fungal communities show more specificity than bacteria for plant species composition in a temperate forest in China

Background

Soil microbiome is an important part of the forest ecosystem and participates in forest ecological restoration and reconstruction. Niche differentiation with respect to resources is a prominent hypothesis to account for the maintenance of species diversity in forest ecosystems. Resource-based niche differentiation has driven ecological specialization. Plants influence soil microbial diversity and distribution by affecting the soil environment. However, with the change in plant population type, whether the distribution of soil microbes is random or follows an ecologically specialized manner remains to be further studied. We characterized the soil microbiome (bacteria and fungi) in different plant populations to assess the effects of phytophysiognomy on the distribution patterns of soil microbial communities in a temperate forest in China.

Results

Our results showed that the distribution of most soil microbes in different types of plant populations is not random but specialized in these temperate forests. The distribution patterns of bacteria and fungi were related to the composition of plant communities. Fungal species (32%) showed higher specialization than bacterial species (15%) for different types of plant populations. Light was the main driving factor of the fungal community, and soil physicochemical factors were the main driving factor of the bacterial community.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that ecological specialization is important in maintaining local diversity in soil microbial communities in this forest. Fungi are more specialized than bacteria in the face of changes in plant population types. Changes in plant community composition could have important effects on soil microbial communities by potentially influencing the stability and stress resistance of forest ecosystems.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12866-022-02591-1.

Phylogenetic and Functional Structure of Wood Communities among Different Disturbance Regimes in a Temperate Mountain Forest

The mechanisms responsible for biodiversity formation and maintenance are central themes in biodiversity conservation. However, the relationships between community assembly, phylogeny, and functional traits remain poorly understood, especially following disturbance. In this study, we examined forest community assembly mechanisms in different disturbance regimes across spatial scales and including tree life history classes, using phylogenetic and functional trait metrics. Across disturbance regimes, phylogenetic structure tended to be over-dispersed, while functional structure tended to be clustered. The over-dispersion of phylogenetic structure also increased from small to large diameter species. Moreover, the explanation of spatial distance for the turnover of phylogenetic and functional structure was increased, while environmental distance explained less structure as disturbance intensity decreased. Our findings suggest that niche theory largely explains forest community assembly in different disturbance regimes. Furthermore, environmental filtering plays a major role in moderate to high disturbance regimes, while competitive exclusion is more important in undisturbed and slightly disturbed ecosystems.

Distribution of Woody Plant Species Among Different Disturbance Regimes of Forests in a Temperate Deciduous Broad-Leaved Forest

Forests in different disturbance regimes provide diverse microhabitats for species growth. However, whether the species distribution of wood plant is random or follows ecological specialization among forests in different disturbance regimes remains to be elucidated. In this study, four 1 hm² (100 m × 100 m) forest dynamic monitoring plots in different disturbance regimes of forests were randomly selected in a temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest. We examined the specificity of woody plants to forests through network analysis. Torus-translation test was used to analyze the species distribution preference of woody plants to forests in different disturbance regimes. The specialization index of woody plants was 0.3126, and that of shrubs (51.01%) was higher than that of trees (25.16%). Moreover, 66.67% (38/57) of woody plants were associated with different forests. More shrub species (70.00%) had specific preferences than tree species (45.95%) with respect to forests in different disturbance regimes. Our findings suggest that the distribution of woody plants among forests with different disturbance regimes is not random but is specialized. Different woody plants show different community preferences in different disturbance regimes of forests. Shrubs show higher specialization than trees in different disturbance regimes of forests.