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Wen L, Zhao K, Sun H, Feng G, Sun Q, Liang C, Li Z, Wang L, Svenning J. Drivers of desert plant beta diversity on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e10993. [PMID: 38380069 PMCID: PMC10877311 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Revised: 12/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/04/2024] [Indexed: 02/22/2024] Open
Abstract
The desert ecosystem of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) is an important component of China's desert ecosystem. Studying the mechanisms shaping the taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional beta diversity of plant communities in the QTP desert will help us to promote scientific conservation and management of the region's biodiversity. This study investigated the effects of environmental (including altitude, climate factors, and soil factors) and geographic distances on three facets of beta diversity as well as their turnover and nestedness components based on field survey data. The results showed that turnover components dominate the three facets of beta diversity. However, the turnover contributions to phylogenetic and functional beta diversity were lower than for taxonomic beta diversity. Environmental distance had a greater influence than geographic distance, with the former uniquely explaining 15.2%-22.8% of beta diversity and the latter explaining only 1.7%-2.4%. Additionally, the explanatory power of different factors for beta diversity differed between herbs and shrubs, with environmental distance being more important for the latter. Distance-based redundancy analysis suggested that soil total potassium content had a substantial impact on the beta diversity of three dimensions, with mean temperature of the coldest month and soil total phosphorus content having a substantial impact on taxonomic and functional beta diversity as well. Our results support that environmental sorting plays a predominant role in shaping plant community composition across QTP desert ecosystems. To maintain the plant diversity of this region, it is crucial to prioritize the conservation of its diverse environmental conditions and actively mitigate its degradation by anthropogenic pressures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lu Wen
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolia Plateau, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and EnvironmentInner Mongolia UniversityHohhotChina
- Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO) & Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of BiologyAarhus UniversityAarhus CDenmark
| | - Kexuan Zhao
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolia Plateau, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and EnvironmentInner Mongolia UniversityHohhotChina
| | - Haoyu Sun
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolia Plateau, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and EnvironmentInner Mongolia UniversityHohhotChina
| | - Gang Feng
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolia Plateau, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and EnvironmentInner Mongolia UniversityHohhotChina
| | - Qiang Sun
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolia Plateau, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and EnvironmentInner Mongolia UniversityHohhotChina
| | - Cunzhu Liang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolia Plateau, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and EnvironmentInner Mongolia UniversityHohhotChina
| | - Zhiyong Li
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolia Plateau, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and EnvironmentInner Mongolia UniversityHohhotChina
| | - Lixin Wang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolia Plateau, Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security, School of Ecology and EnvironmentInner Mongolia UniversityHohhotChina
| | - Jens‐Christian Svenning
- Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO) & Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of BiologyAarhus UniversityAarhus CDenmark
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Native diversity contributes to composition heterogeneity of exotic floras. Ecosphere 2023. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4452] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/11/2023] Open
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Tian K, Chai P, Wang Y, Chen L, Qian H, Chen S, Mi X, Ren H, Ma K, Chen J. Species diversity pattern and its drivers of the understory herbaceous plants in a Chinese subtropical forest. Front Ecol Evol 2023. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.1113742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Understory herbaceous plants are an important component of forest ecosystems, playing important roles in species diversity and forest dynamics in forests. However, the current understanding of the biodiversity of forest communities is mostly from woody plants, and knowledge of community structure and species diversity for understory herbaceous plants remains scarce. In a subtropical forest in China, we investigated understory vascular herbaceous diversity from 300 plots (5 × 5 m) in the main growing season. In this study, we analyzed the community structure and diversity pattern of the understory herbaceous community and linked the species diversity pattern to both abiotic and biotic environments. We found a rich diversity of understory herbaceous communities in this forest (81 species belonging to 55 genera), and floristic elements at the genus level were dominated by tropical elements, followed by temperate elements. The diversity pattern of the understory herbaceous showed a significant habitat preference, with the highest diversity in the lowland valleys and then followed by in middle slopes. In addition, herbaceous diversity was significantly affected by both abiotic factors (such as terrain convexity) and biotic factors (such as the diversity of surrounding woody plants). Our study indicated that species diversity of understory herbaceous showed a remarkable habitat preference, such as lowland valleys, and highlighted the importance of both abiotic and biotic environments in driving herbaceous diversity patterns in the subtropical forest understory.
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Hogan JA, Sharpe JM, Van Beusekom A, Stankavich S, Matta Carmona S, Bithorn JE, Torres‐Díaz J, González G, Zimmerman JK, Shiels AB. Solar radiation and soil moisture drive tropical forest understory responses to experimental and natural hurricanes. Ecosphere 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- J. Aaron Hogan
- Department of Biological Sciences Florida International University Miami Florida USA
- Department of Biology University of Florida Gainesville Florida USA
| | | | - Ashley Van Beusekom
- USDA Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry Río Piedras Puerto Rico USA
| | | | - Samuel Matta Carmona
- Department of Environmental Sciences University of Puerto Rico‐Río Piedras San Juan Puerto Rico USA
| | - John E. Bithorn
- Department of Environmental Sciences University of Puerto Rico‐Río Piedras San Juan Puerto Rico USA
| | - Jamarys Torres‐Díaz
- USDA Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry Río Piedras Puerto Rico USA
- Graduate School of Planning University of Puerto Rico‐Río Piedras San Juan Puerto Rico USA
| | - Grizelle González
- USDA Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry Río Piedras Puerto Rico USA
| | - Jess K. Zimmerman
- Department of Environmental Sciences University of Puerto Rico‐Río Piedras San Juan Puerto Rico USA
| | - Aaron B. Shiels
- USDA APHIS National Wildlife Research Center Fort Collins Colorado USA
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Gallo SC, Cupertino-Eisenlohr MA, Silva DRD, Munhoz CBR, Eisenlohr PV. Novelties from the herbaceous stratum in a key region for the conservation of the Southern Amazon. BIOTA NEOTROPICA 2022. [DOI: 10.1590/10.1590/1676-0611-bn-2021-1313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Abstract The contribution of the herbaceous stratum to tropical plant diversity is considerable, however this component remains undersampled. We investigated floristic, structural, ecological and conservation issues concerning the herbaceous component of a seasonal deciduous forest associated with granitic rock outcrops in the Cristalino Region, a key area for biodiversity conservation in the Brazilian Amazon. We installed a permanent plot of 1 ha, allocating 10 transect-lines of 20 m each. We identified the sampled individuals, measured height and projection, and verified cover and frequency per species, genera and family. We recorded 86 species, 62 genera and 25 families, with Orchidaceae being the family with the highest species richness. Among the 26 new species added to Cristalino Flora, we included Philodendron deflexum Poepp. ex Schott and Griffinia nocturna Ravenna, the latter ‘Critically Endangered’. Furthermore, the occurrence of G. nocturna in an Amazonian forest matrix is a novelty in this study. The estimate of species diversity according to Shannon-Wiener (H’) was 2.43 nats.ind.-1 (equivalent to 11.37 ± 0.90 IC95% equally common species), and according to Simpson (1/D), 6.82 (± 0.648 IC95%). The rarefaction and extrapolation curves for the diversity estimates tended to stabilize. Although the vegetation on rock outcrops usually presents a high number of endemic species, this pattern was not found in our study area, which can be explained by its continuous occurrence in the forest matrix. The understory of our study area consists in a mixture of floras, being composed mainly of species from the Amazon and/or Cerrado biomes. In view of the current anthropic pressure faced by the southern Amazon, we reinforce the importance of carrying out inventories of its herbaceous communities, since the risk of species loss is even more alarming when considering present undersampling of this component.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Cristina Gallo
- Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso, Brasil; Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso (UNEMAT), Brasil
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Wang J, Wang Y, Li M, He N, Li J. Divergent roles of environmental and spatial factors in shaping plant β-diversity of different growth forms in drylands. Glob Ecol Conserv 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
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Chen D, Cao L, Zhao J, Wan X, Wei S. Geographic patterns of Lucanus (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) species diversity and environmental determinants in China. Ecol Evol 2020; 10:13190-13197. [PMID: 33304529 PMCID: PMC7713949 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6911] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2020] [Revised: 08/27/2020] [Accepted: 09/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Clarifying the geographic patterns of species diversity and the determinant factors can provide essential information for species conservation and management. Stag beetles (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) of Lucanus are important saproxylic insects and can be used for biomonitoring forests. Most of Lucanus species are facing conservation concerns due to their limited distribution and fragmented habitats, particularly in China, which has the richest species diversity of this genus. The distribution patterns of species diversity of Lucanus at large spatial scales remain portly understood. We studied the distribution patterns of Lucanus and its environmental and geographic determinants in China. Distribution data for 72 species and subspecies were examined. All these species are distributed in southern China except for Lucanus maculifemoratus dybowskyi, which is mainly distributed in north China. The hotspot for Lucanus in China is southeastern Tibet. Our study indicated that the species richness of Lucanus in China was shaped by the precipitation of the wettest and driest month, net primary productivity, digital elevation model, and latitude at a large scale. These variables collectively explained 56.2% of the variation in species richness; precipitation contributed the most (44.1%). Our results provide valuable insights to improve the conservation of Lucanus and can contribute to furthering our understanding of the biogeography of stag beetles in China.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Chen
- School of Resources and Environmental EngineeringAnhui Province Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecosystem Protection and RestorationAnhui UniversityHefeiChina
| | - Li‐Jun Cao
- Institute of Plant and Environmental ProtectionBeijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Jin‐Ling Zhao
- National Engineering Research Center for Agro‐Ecological Big Data Analysis & ApplicationAnhui UniversityHefeiChina
| | - Xia Wan
- School of Resources and Environmental EngineeringAnhui Province Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecosystem Protection and RestorationAnhui UniversityHefeiChina
| | - Shu‐Jun Wei
- Institute of Plant and Environmental ProtectionBeijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry SciencesBeijingChina
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Kennard DK, Matlaga D, Sharpe J, King C, Alonso‐Rodríguez AM, Reed SC, Cavaleri MA, Wood TE. Tropical understory herbaceous community responds more strongly to hurricane disturbance than to experimental warming. Ecol Evol 2020; 10:8906-8915. [PMID: 32884666 PMCID: PMC7452782 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6589] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2019] [Revised: 06/12/2020] [Accepted: 06/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
The effects of climate change on tropical forests may have global consequences due to the forests' high biodiversity and major role in the global carbon cycle. In this study, we document the effects of experimental warming on the abundance and composition of a tropical forest floor herbaceous plant community in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. This study was conducted within Tropical Responses to Altered Climate Experiment (TRACE) plots, which use infrared heaters under free-air, open-field conditions, to warm understory vegetation and soils + 4°C above nearby control plots. Hurricanes Irma and María damaged the heating infrastructure in the second year of warming, therefore, the study included one pretreatment year, one year of warming, and one year of hurricane response with no warming. We measured percent leaf cover of individual herbaceous species, fern population dynamics, and species richness and diversity within three warmed and three control plots. Results showed that one year of experimental warming did not significantly affect the cover of individual herbaceous species, fern population dynamics, species richness, or species diversity. In contrast, herbaceous cover increased from 20% to 70%, bare ground decreased from 70% to 6%, and species composition shifted pre to posthurricane. The negligible effects of warming may have been due to the short duration of the warming treatment or an understory that is somewhat resistant to higher temperatures. Our results suggest that climate extremes that are predicted to increase with climate change, such as hurricanes and droughts, may cause more abrupt changes in tropical forest understories than longer-term sustained warming.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Clay King
- Colorado Mesa UniversityGrand JunctionCOUSA
| | | | - Sasha C. Reed
- U.S. Geological SurveySouthwest Biological Science CenterMoabUTUSA
| | - Molly A. Cavaleri
- College of Forest Resources and Environmental ScienceMichigan Technological UniversityHoughtonMIUSA
| | - Tana E. Wood
- USDA Forest ServiceInternational Institute of Tropical ForestryRío PiedrasPuerto RicoUSA
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Hulshof CM, Waring BG, Powers JS, Harrison SP. Trait-based signatures of cloud base height in a tropical cloud forest. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2020; 107:886-894. [PMID: 32500611 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.1483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2019] [Accepted: 03/16/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE Clouds have profound consequences for ecosystem structure and function. Yet, the direct monitoring of clouds and their effects on biota is challenging especially in remote and topographically complex tropical cloud forests. We argue that known relationships between climate and the taxonomic and functional composition of plant communities may provide a fingerprint of cloud base height, thus providing a rapid and cost-effective assessment in remote tropical cloud forests. METHODS To detect cloud base height, we compared species turnover and functional trait values among herbaceous and woody plant communities in an ecosystem dominated by cloud formation. We measured soil and air temperature, soil nutrient concentrations, and extracellular enzyme activity. We hypothesized that woody and herbaceous plants would provide signatures of cloud base height, as evidenced by abrupt shifts in both taxonomic composition and plant function. RESULTS We demonstrated abrupt changes in taxonomic composition and the community- weighted mean of a key functional trait, specific leaf area, across elevation for both woody and herbaceous species, consistent with our predictions. However, abrupt taxonomic and functional changes occurred 100 m higher in elevation for herbaceous plants compared to woody ones. Soil temperature abruptly decreased where herbaceous taxonomic and functional turnover was high. Other environmental variables including soil biogeochemistry did not explain the abrupt change observed for woody plant communities. CONCLUSIONS We provide evidence that a trait-based approach can be used to estimate cloud base height. We outline how rises in cloud base height and differential environmental requirements between growth forms can be distinguished using this approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine M Hulshof
- Department of Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, 23284, USA
| | - Bonnie G Waring
- Department of Biology and Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, 84322, USA
| | - Jennifer S Powers
- Departments of Ecology, Evolution, & Behavior and Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, 55108, USA
| | - Susan P Harrison
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California Davis, Davis, California, 95616, USA
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Krishnadas M, Kumar AN, Comita LS. Edge effects reduce α-diversity but not β-diversity during community assembly in a human-modified tropical forest. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2019; 29:e01996. [PMID: 31495013 DOI: 10.1002/eap.1996] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2018] [Revised: 04/20/2019] [Accepted: 07/16/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Edge effects can alter the spatial organization of diversity in fragmented habitats. For tropical forests, however, there has been large variation in the strength and direction of such effects reported by different studies. For long-lived organisms like trees, one reason for inconsistent patterns might be due to most studies having examined patterns of diversity and compositional variation in older life stages that bear the legacy of a forest past. Younger life stages can reveal ongoing processes of assembly, but multi-stage examinations are rare. For seedling, sapling, and adult life stages of trees in a human-modified wet tropical forest in the Western Ghats Biodiversity Hotspot (India), we examined how proximity to forest edges (edge influence) modified the spatial organization of diversity. Specifically, for each life stage we tested whether edge influence led to loss of α- and γ-diversity and decreased β-diversity in this landscape. We found lower α- and γ-diversity closer to forest edges, but only for seedlings. Seedling composition at 90-100 m from forest edges diverged from composition of sites within 60 m, suggesting that edge influence restricted the recruitment of some species to interior sites. In contrast, β-diversity was greater near edges than interior forest for all life stages and most prominently for seedlings. Furthermore, β-diversity at edges was primarily driven by species turnover, suggesting either marked species-environment associations or dispersal limitation. Low turnover at 90-100 m implies that β-diversity arose from stochastic fluctuations in occurrences and abundances of the same species set. Overall, we find that high β-diversity structured spatial patterns of diversity near edges, but recruitment bottlenecks are likely to reduce alpha diversity of forest fragments. Our results also corroborate the need to maintain sufficiently large areas of tropical forest free from edge effects to avoid the loss of interior forest species. To improve landscape-scale diversity of fragmented landscapes, restoration efforts should focus on recovery of species that are unable to regenerate near forest edges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meghna Krishnadas
- School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, 195 Prospect Street, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511, USA
| | - Arun N Kumar
- Hennur Cross, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560096, India
| | - Liza S Comita
- School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, 195 Prospect Street, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511, USA
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 0843-03092, Balboa, Panama
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Luo Y, Cadotte MW, Burgess KS, Liu J, Tan S, Zou J, Xu K, Li D, Gao L. Greater than the sum of the parts: how the species composition in different forest strata influence ecosystem function. Ecol Lett 2019; 22:1449-1461. [DOI: 10.1111/ele.13330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2018] [Revised: 01/06/2019] [Accepted: 04/23/2019] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Ya‐Huang Luo
- CAS Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming Yunnan650201China
- Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming Yunnan650201 China
| | - Marc W. Cadotte
- Biological Sciences University of Toronto‐Scarborough 1265 Military Trail Toronto ONM1C1A4 Canada
| | - Kevin S. Burgess
- Department of Biology, College of Letters & Sciences Columbus State University, University System of Georgia 4225 University Avenue Columbus GA31907 USA
| | - Jie Liu
- CAS Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming Yunnan650201China
| | - Shao‐Lin Tan
- CAS Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming Yunnan650201China
- Kunming college of Life Sciences University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming Yunnan650201 China
| | - Jia‐Yun Zou
- CAS Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming Yunnan650201China
- Kunming college of Life Sciences University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming Yunnan650201 China
| | - Kun Xu
- Lijiang Forest Ecosystem Research Station, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Lijiang Yunnan674100 China
| | - De‐Zhu Li
- Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming Yunnan650201 China
- Kunming college of Life Sciences University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming Yunnan650201 China
| | - Lian‐Ming Gao
- CAS Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming Yunnan650201China
- Lijiang Forest Ecosystem Research Station, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Lijiang Yunnan674100 China
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Wang J, Chen C, Li J, Feng Y, Lu Q. Different ecological processes determined the alpha and beta components of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity for plant communities in dryland regions of Northwest China. PeerJ 2019; 6:e6220. [PMID: 30648001 PMCID: PMC6330206 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.6220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2018] [Accepted: 12/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Drylands account for more than 30% of China's terrestrial area, while the ecological drivers of taxonomic (TD), functional (FD) and phylogenetic (PD) diversity in dryland regions have not been explored simultaneously. Therefore, we selected 36 plots of desert and 32 plots of grassland (10 × 10 m) from a typical dryland region of northwest China. We calculated the alpha and beta components of TD, FD and PD for 68 dryland plant communities using Rao quadratic entropy index, which included 233 plant species. Redundancy analyses and variation partitioning analyses were used to explore the relative influence of environmental and spatial factors on the above three facets of diversity, at the alpha and beta scales. We found that soil, climate, topography and spatial structures (principal coordinates of neighbor matrices) were significantly correlated with TD, FD and PD at both alpha and beta scales, implying that these diversity patterns are shaped by contemporary environment and spatial processes together. However, we also found that alpha diversity was predominantly regulated by spatial structure, whereas beta diversity was largely determined by environmental variables. Among environmental factors, TD was most strongly correlated with climatic factors at the alpha scale, while with soil factors at the beta scale. FD was only significantly correlated with soil factors at the alpha scale, but with altitude, soil and climatic factors at the beta scale. In contrast, PD was more strongly correlated with altitude at the alpha scale, but with soil factors at the beta scale. Environment and space explained a smaller portion of variance in PD than in TD and FD. These results provide robust evidence that the ecological drivers of biodiversity differ among different scales and facets of diversity. Future research that focuses on the comparisons among TD, FD and PD would likely provide new insights into elucidating the underlying community assembly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianming Wang
- College of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
| | - Chen Chen
- College of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
| | - Jingwen Li
- College of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
| | - Yiming Feng
- Institute of Desertification Studies, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China
| | - Qi Lu
- Institute of Desertification Studies, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China
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Pasion BO, Roeder M, Liu J, Yasuda M, Corlett RT, Slik JWF, Tomlinson KW. Trees represent community composition of other plant life-forms, but not their diversity, abundance or responses to fragmentation. Sci Rep 2018; 8:11374. [PMID: 30054514 PMCID: PMC6063943 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-29635-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2017] [Accepted: 07/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Our understanding of the patterns of plant diversity in tropical forests and their responses to fragmentation are mostly based on tree surveys. But are these patterns and responses representative of other plant life-forms? We sampled trees, lianas, herbs, and ferns in a fragmented tropical forest landscape in South-west China. We compared community types generated by clustering presence-absence data for the non-tree life-forms with those generated for trees. We tested how well measures of tree diversity, density and composition, predicted cognate indices in other life-forms. We compared fragmentation responses, with respect to the three measures, of all four life-forms. Presence-absence data from all life-forms generated three community clusters, with only small differences between classifications, suggesting that tree data identified community types representative of all vascular plant life-forms. Tree species diversity and density indices poorly predicted cognate indices of lianas and ferns, but represented herbs well. However, the slopes of these relationships differed substantially between community types. All life-forms responded to fragmentation variables but their responses did not consistently match with responses of trees. Plot-level tree data can identify vegetation community types, but is poorly representative of the richness and density of other life-forms, and poorly represents forest fragmentation responses for the entire plant community.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bonifacio O Pasion
- Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan, 666303, China.,University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Mareike Roeder
- Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan, 666303, China
| | - Jiajia Liu
- Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife of the Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Mika Yasuda
- Birdlife International Tokyo, 4F TM Suidobashi Bldg., 2-14-6 Misaki-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 101-0061, Japan
| | - Richard T Corlett
- Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan, 666303, China
| | - J W Ferry Slik
- Faculty of Science, Environmental and Life Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Gadong, BE1410, Brunei Darussalam
| | - Kyle W Tomlinson
- Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan, 666303, China.
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14
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Tan S, Luo Y, Hollingsworth PM, Burgess KS, Xu K, Li D, Gao L. DNA barcoding herbaceous and woody plant species at a subalpine forest dynamics plot in Southwest China. Ecol Evol 2018; 8:7195-7205. [PMID: 30073078 PMCID: PMC6065341 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.4254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2017] [Revised: 03/05/2018] [Accepted: 05/14/2018] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Although DNA barcoding has been widely used to identify plant species composition in temperate and tropical ecosystems, relatively few studies have used DNA barcodes to document both herbaceous and woody components of forest plot. A total of 201 species (72 woody species and 129 herbaceous species) representing 135 genera distributed across 64 families of seed plants were collected in a 25 ha CForBio subalpine forest dynamics plot. In total, 491 specimens were screened for three DNA regions of the chloroplast genome (rbcL, matK, and trnH-psbA) as well as the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA. We quantified species resolution for each barcode separately or in combination using a ML tree-based method. Amplification and sequencing success were highest for rbcL, followed by trnH-psbA, which performed better than ITS and matK. The rbcL + ITS barcode had slightly higher species resolution rates (88.60%) compared with rbcL + matK (86.60%) and rbcL + trnH-psbA (86.01%). The addition of trnH-psbA or ITS to the rbcL + matK barcode only marginally increased species resolution rates, although in combination the four barcodes had the highest discriminatory power (90.21%). The situations where DNA barcodes did not discriminate among species were typically associated with higher numbers of co-occurring con-generic species. In addition, herbaceous species were much better resolved than woody species. Our study represents one of the first applications of DNA barcodes in a subalpine forest dynamics plot and contributes to our understanding of patterns of genetic divergence among woody and herbaceous plant species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shao‐Lin Tan
- Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East AsiaKunming Institute of BotanyChinese Academy of SciencesKunming, YunnanChina
- Germplasm Bank of Wild SpeciesKunming Institute of BotanyChinese Academy of SciencesKunming, YunnanChina
- College of Life SciencesUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesKunming, YunnanChina
| | - Ya‐Huang Luo
- Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East AsiaKunming Institute of BotanyChinese Academy of SciencesKunming, YunnanChina
| | | | - Kevin S. Burgess
- Department of BiologyCollege of Letters and SciencesColumbus State UniversityUniversity System of GeorgiaColumbusGeorgia
| | - Kun Xu
- Lijiang Forest Ecosystem Research StationKunming Institute of BotanyChinese Academy of SciencesLijiangChina
| | - De‐Zhu Li
- Germplasm Bank of Wild SpeciesKunming Institute of BotanyChinese Academy of SciencesKunming, YunnanChina
- College of Life SciencesUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesKunming, YunnanChina
| | - Lian‐Ming Gao
- Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East AsiaKunming Institute of BotanyChinese Academy of SciencesKunming, YunnanChina
- Lijiang Forest Ecosystem Research StationKunming Institute of BotanyChinese Academy of SciencesLijiangChina
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15
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Johnson DJ, Condit R, Hubbell SP, Comita LS. Abiotic niche partitioning and negative density dependence drive tree seedling survival in a tropical forest. Proc Biol Sci 2018; 284:rspb.2017.2210. [PMID: 29237862 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.2210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2017] [Accepted: 11/14/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In tropical tree communities, processes occurring during early life stages play a critical role in shaping forest composition and diversity through differences in species' performance. Predicting the future of tropical forests depends on a solid understanding of the drivers of seedling survival. At the same time, factors determining spatial and temporal patterns of seedling survival can play a large role in permitting species coexistence in diverse communities. Using long-term data on the survival of more than 45 000 seedlings of 238 species in a Neotropical forest, we assessed the relative importance of key abiotic and biotic neighbourhood variables thought to influence individual seedling survival and tested whether species vary significantly in their responses to these variables, consistent with niche differences. At the community level, seedling survival was significantly correlated with plant size, topographic habitat, neighbourhood densities of conspecific seedlings, conspecific and heterospecific trees and annual variation in water availability, in descending order of effect size. Additionally, we found significant variation among species in their sensitivity to light and water availability, as well as in their survival within different topographic habitats, indicating the potential for niche differentiation among species that could allow for species coexistence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel J Johnson
- School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Richard Condit
- Field Museum, Chicago, IL, USA.,Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL, USA
| | - Stephen P Hubbell
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Republic of Panama.,University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Liza S Comita
- School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.,Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Republic of Panama
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16
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Differences in topographic and soil habitat specialization between trees and two understorey plant groups in a Costa Rican lowland rain forest. JOURNAL OF TROPICAL ECOLOGY 2016. [DOI: 10.1017/s0266467416000419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Abstract:Two core questions in plant community ecology are to what extent the distributions of species are structured by local environmental conditions, and whether taxa differ in this regard. We compared the distributions of trees, Melastomataceae and ferns on soil and topographic gradients in a Costa Rican lowland rain forest (trees and ferns 983 plots, Melastomataceae 277 plots). To test whether these plant groups differed in the prevalence or type of habitat specialization, we calculated species’ environmental optima and tolerances on each gradient. Habitat specialization was defined as a significantly biased optimum, or a narrow tolerance, relative to values obtained under spatially restricted randomizations of species occurrences. Within plant groups, we also asked whether the dispersion of species optima differed from random expectation on each gradient. Fern optima were over-dispersed on multiple gradients, implying considerable interspecific habitat partitioning, and tree optima were over-dispersed in relation to topographic position. Habitat specialization was more prevalent in the two predominantly understorey groups than in trees (75% of Melastomataceae species, 81–87% of ferns, 57–58% of trees). Species optima of Melastomataceae and ferns also tended towards lower landscape positions than did those of trees, perhaps reflecting a higher proportion of drought-sensitive species in these two groups.
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