Driving factors of spatial turnover of plant species in Shennongjia

doi:10.17520/biods.2021377

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims: Shennongjia is one of the key habitats for numerous relic, rare, endemic, and type species, as well as many of the world’s deciduous woody species in the Northern Hemisphere. Understanding plant compositional differences (beta-diversity) between local species assemblages is central in understanding the processes that maintain Shennongjia’s species diversity. Yet, little is known about which factors driving the changes in Shennongjia’s plant composition. Here, we aim to investigate that how the taxonomic composition of plant species shifts with environmental gradients, and to determine the key factors affecting on the current distribution of species by considering the factors of environment and human disturbance.

Methods: In this paper, based on generalized dissimilarity modelling (GDM) and partial regression analysis, we explored the driving effects of geographical distance, climatic factors, and human disturbance (measured as distance to road and fragmentation) on plant beta-diversity in Shennongjia.

Results: The results showed that the geographical distance, mean annual temperature (MAT), accumulated temperature ≥ 0℃ and accumulated temperature ≥ 10℃ are the main factors contributing to plant species turnover in Shennongjia. Geographical distance, climatic difference, and human disturbance explained 28.75%, 34.56% and 12.55% of the variation in plant species dissimilarities, respectively, and their interactions explained 8.52% of the variation. Geographical distance, climatic difference, and human disturbance together explained 43.47% of the variation.

Conclusion: The results indicated that geographical distance and temperature differentiations were the key factors driving plant compositional changes between local species assemblages in Shennongjia. Protecting vegetation vertical band spectrum and diverse geomorphologic heterogeneities are the key to maintain the ecological process of species turnover in Shennongjia, and are also the primary focus of the construction of Shennongjia National Park and the protection area network in the northwest region of the Hubei Province should be concerned.

Key words: environmental heterogeneity, beta diversity, species turnover, fragmentation, Shennongjia

Yanhui Li, Tianyuan Lan, Yue Wang, Yang Yu, Changming Zhao, Lihua Li, Wenting Xu, Guozhen Shen. Driving factors of spatial turnover of plant species in Shennongjia[J]. Biodiv Sci, 2022, 30(4): 21377.

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URL: https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/10.17520/biods.2021377

https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/Y2022/V30/I4/21377

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of plant sampling plot in Shennongjia

Fig. 2 Relationship between geographic distance and beta diversity of plant communities in Shennongjia

Fig. 3 Relationship between climate difference and beta diversity of plant communities in Shennongjia

Fig. 4 Relationship between disturbance and beta diversity of plant communities in Shennongjia

Table 1 The relative importance of the driving factors

预测因子 Factors	相对重要性 Relative importance
≥ 0℃积温差异 Difference in accumulated temperature ≥ 0℃	1.00
年均温差异 Difference in annual mean temperature	0.98
≥ 10℃积温差异 Difference in accumulated temperature ≥ 10℃	0.95
地理距离 Geographic distance	0.88
年均降水量差异 Difference in annual mean precipitation	0.35
距道路距离差异 Difference in distance from road	0.48
森林破碎化指数差异 Difference in forest fragmentation index	0.37

Fig. 5 Explain rate of geographic distance (A), climatic difference (B) and human disturbance (C) to species beta diversity

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