Biodiv Sci ›› 2021, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (4): 439-448.  DOI: 10.17520/biods.2020399

Special Issue: 物种形成与系统进化

• Original Papers: Plant Diversity • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of plants in a Castanopsis kawakamiinatural forest

Bo Chen1,2,3, Lan Jiang1,2,3, Ziyang Xie1,2,3, Yangdi Li1, Jiaxuan Li1, Mengjia Li1,2,3, Chensi Wei1,2,3, Cong Xing1,2,3, Jinfu Liu1,2,3, Zhongsheng He1,2,3,*()   

  1. 1 College of Forestry, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002
    2 Cross-Strait Nature Reserve Research Center, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002
    3 Key Laboratory of Fujian Universities for Ecology and Resource Statistics, Fuzhou 350002
  • Received:2020-10-13 Accepted:2021-02-07 Online:2021-04-20 Published:2021-04-20
  • Contact: Zhongsheng He
  • About author:* E-mail: jxhzs85@126.com

Abstract:

Aims: Environmental heterogeneity of forest gaps leads to variation in taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of trees in these areas. Studying tree diversity in different sizes of forest gap communities can help to reveal the mechanisms that drive the formation and maintenance of biodiversity. This study took Castanopsis kawakamiigaps as the research object, and aimed to reveal the relationship between the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of plants and its environmental influence factors.

Methods: We examined different sizes of forest gaps in a Castanopsis kawakamii natural forest as to study the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of plants, and used a generalized linear model (GLM) to explore the environmental factors driving the community assembly.

Results: We found that the plant species and plant abundance in large gaps (> 200 m2) were higher than those of medium gaps ([50 m2, 100 m2)), small gaps ([30 m2, 50 m2)) and non-gaps (100 m2). The phylogenetic community structure of the large gaps tends to diverge, while that of the medium gaps, small gaps and non-gaps were affected by the combined effect of habitat filtering and competitive exclusion. The phylogenetic community diversity index (PD) was significantly positively correlated with species richness (SR), Margalef index and Shannon-Wiener index, which is related to the higher species composition of sparse species than dense species in forest gaps. Overall, forest gap size had a significantly positive effect on species diversity, and the soil total nitrogen content had a significantly positive effect on community phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic structure.

Conclusion: The formation of forest gaps increase the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of trees in natural forests, with gap size and soil total nitrogen jointly driving tree diversity in these natural forest gaps.

Key words: Castanopsis kawakamii, forest gap, tree taxonomic diversity, phylogenetic diversity, environment factors