Biodiv Sci ›› 2015, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (4): 463-470.  DOI: 10.17520/biods.2015011

• Original Papers: Plant Diversity • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The explanation of climatic hypotheses to community species diversity patterns in Inner Mongolia grasslands

Qingfu Liu1, Yang Liu1, Xiaoli Sun1, Xuefeng Zhang1, Sarula Kang1, Yong Ding2, Qing Zhang1,3,*(), Jianming Niu1,3,*()   

  1. 1 School of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021
    2 Institute of Grassland Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hohhot 010010
    3 Sino-US Center for Conservation, Energy and Sustainability Science in Inner Mongolia, Hohhot 010021
  • Received:2015-01-14 Accepted:2015-06-12 Online:2015-07-20 Published:2015-08-03
  • Contact: Zhang Qing,Niu Jianming

Abstract:

Understanding spatial pattern of species diversity is central to macroecology and biogeography. Based on species diversity and nine different climatic factors of 192 field sites, we explored geographic patterns of species richness and dominant factors in Inner Mongolia grassland, and further determined applicability of different climatic hypotheses in this area. Results indicated the species richness of the Inner Mongolia grassland exhibited significant longitudinal gradients, which increased from west to east. Meanwhile, because of the collinearity of latitude and longitude within the Inner Mongolia grassland, it also exhibited significant latitudinal gradients. Analysis of variance indicated that only 2.7% and 11.4% of the total variance were explained by energy and moisture factors, respectively, while 46.3% was simultaneously explained by the two groups of factors, 39.6% was explained by other undetermined factors. These results indicate that energy and moisture play a decisive role in the distribution patterns of species richness and support the water-energy dynamic hypothesis. We find the water-energy dynamic hypothesis is best suited for the Inner Mongolia grassland.

Key words: energy factors, moisture factors, longitude, water-energy dynamic hypothesis