Amphibian species richness patterns in karst regions in Southwest China and its environmental associations

doi:10.17520/biods.2018125

Abstract

Abstract:

Patterns in the distribution of species richness have always been a central theme in macroecology. The karst landforms in Southwest China (mainly Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces) are among the largest of the global biodiversity hotspots. In this study, we sought to understand spatial patterns of amphibian species richness and its relationship with environmental factors. We compiled a large dataset of 18,246 records of point location data for 219 amphibian species occurring in China. We retrieved this data from published literature, Herpetology museums of Chengdu Institute of Biology and Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Museum of Nature and the Central South University of Forestry and Technology, and published sources. We used this data to generate the potential distributions of each species using ecological niche modeling. We combined the potential distributions maps of all species into a composite map to describe species richness patterns on the grid cell of 10 km × 10 km, and then conducted multivariate regression and model selection. Our results showed that 12 species were distributed only in karst area, accounting for 5.48% of the total species pool, 104 species were found in non-karst area (47.49% of total species), and 103 species were found in both karst area and non-karst area (47.03% of total species). Based on the raw data of museum collections data and MaxEnt species distribution modeling, we found that amphibian species richness in the study area decreased at higher latitudes. Karst landforms and non-karst landforms differed in their distribution patterns of amphibian species richness (χ² = 36.47, P < 0.0001), but the model was a poor fit to the data (McFadden’s Rho square = 0.0037). The most significant environmental predictors of species richness were mean annual rainfall (R² = 0.232, P < 0.001) and precipitation of driest Month (R² = 0.221, P < 0.001). The results based on model selection showed that underlying mechanisms related to landforms and different ecological hypotheses might simultaneously explain patterns of amphibian species richness in the study area. Future research should examine other biological factors such as interference, predation, and competition to understand the mechanisms controlling patterns of amphibian species richness.

http://jtp.cnki.net/bilingual/detail/html/SWDY201809003

Key words: biogeography, amphibia, species diversity, karst landforms, MaxEnt model

Bo Wang, Yong Huang, Jiatang Li, Qiang Dai, Yuezhao Wang, Daode Yang. Amphibian species richness patterns in karst regions in Southwest China and its environmental associations[J]. Biodiv Sci, 2018, 26(9): 941-950.

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URL: https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/10.17520/biods.2018125

https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/Y2018/V26/I9/941

Figures/Tables 7

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相关假说 Hypothesis	环境变量 Environmental variable	变量缩写 Abbreviation
能量假说 Energy availability	年均温度 Annual mean temperature (℃)	BIO1
	平均日温差 Mean diurnal range (℃)	BIO2
	等温性 Isothermality (℃)	BIO3
	季节性温度变化 Temperature seasonality	BIO4
	最高气温 Max temperature of warmest month (℃)	BIO5
	最低气温 Min temperature of coldest month (℃)	BIO6
	年均温差 Temperature annual range (℃)	BIO7
	最湿季平均温度 Mean temperature of wettest quarter (℃)	BIO8
	最干季平均温度 Mean temperature of driest quarter (℃)	BIO9
	最暖季平均温度 Mean temperature of warmest quarter (℃)	BIO10
	最冷季平均温度 Mean temperature of coldest quarter (℃)	BIO11
	年均日照时数(白昼长的百分比) Mean annual sunshine (percent of daylength)	SUNP
	年均霜日频率 Mean annual frost-day frequency (days)	FF
	年均潜在蒸散量 Mean annual potential evapotranspiration (mm/yr)	PET
	年均风速 Mean annual wind speed (m/s)	WIND
水分假说 Water availability	年均降雨量 Annual precipitation (mm/yr)	BIO12
	最湿月平均降雨量 Precipitation of wettest month (mm/yr)	BIO13
	最干月平均降雨量 Precipitation of driest month (mm/yr)	BIO14
	季节性降雨量 Precipitation seasonality	BIO15
	最湿季平均降雨量 Precipitation of wettest quarter (mm/yr)	BIO16
	最干季平均降雨量 Precipitation of driest quarter (mm/yr)	BIO17
	最暖季平均降雨量 Precipitation of warmest quarter (mm/yr)	BIO18
	最冷季平均降雨量 Precipitation of coldest quarter (mm/yr)	BIO19
	年均相对湿度 Mean annual relative humidity (%)	REH
生产力假说 Productive energy	归一化植被指数 Normalized difference vegetation index	NDVI
	年均实际蒸散量 Mean annual actual evapotranspiration (mm/yr)	AET
	年均太阳辐射量 Mean annual solar radiation (W/m²)	RAD
生境异质性假说 Habitat heterogeneity	海拔 Elevation	ELE
	植被类型数 Vegetation (number of vegetation classes/quadrat)	VEG
	地貌类型 Landform	LANDF

相关假说 Hypothesis	环境变量 Environmental variable	变量缩写 Abbreviation
能量假说 Energy availability	年均温度 Annual mean temperature (℃)	BIO1
	平均日温差 Mean diurnal range (℃)	BIO2
	等温性 Isothermality (℃)	BIO3
	季节性温度变化 Temperature seasonality	BIO4
	最高气温 Max temperature of warmest month (℃)	BIO5
	最低气温 Min temperature of coldest month (℃)	BIO6
	年均温差 Temperature annual range (℃)	BIO7
	最湿季平均温度 Mean temperature of wettest quarter (℃)	BIO8
	最干季平均温度 Mean temperature of driest quarter (℃)	BIO9
	最暖季平均温度 Mean temperature of warmest quarter (℃)	BIO10
	最冷季平均温度 Mean temperature of coldest quarter (℃)	BIO11
	年均日照时数(白昼长的百分比) Mean annual sunshine (percent of daylength)	SUNP
	年均霜日频率 Mean annual frost-day frequency (days)	FF
	年均潜在蒸散量 Mean annual potential evapotranspiration (mm/yr)	PET
	年均风速 Mean annual wind speed (m/s)	WIND
水分假说 Water availability	年均降雨量 Annual precipitation (mm/yr)	BIO12
	最湿月平均降雨量 Precipitation of wettest month (mm/yr)	BIO13
	最干月平均降雨量 Precipitation of driest month (mm/yr)	BIO14
	季节性降雨量 Precipitation seasonality	BIO15
	最湿季平均降雨量 Precipitation of wettest quarter (mm/yr)	BIO16
	最干季平均降雨量 Precipitation of driest quarter (mm/yr)	BIO17
	最暖季平均降雨量 Precipitation of warmest quarter (mm/yr)	BIO18
	最冷季平均降雨量 Precipitation of coldest quarter (mm/yr)	BIO19
	年均相对湿度 Mean annual relative humidity (%)	REH
生产力假说 Productive energy	归一化植被指数 Normalized difference vegetation index	NDVI
	年均实际蒸散量 Mean annual actual evapotranspiration (mm/yr)	AET
	年均太阳辐射量 Mean annual solar radiation (W/m²)	RAD
生境异质性假说 Habitat heterogeneity	海拔 Elevation	ELE
	植被类型数 Vegetation (number of vegetation classes/quadrat)	VEG
	地貌类型 Landform	LANDF

环境变量 Enviromental predictor	AICc	ΔAICc	Wi	t	R²	P
年均降雨量 Annual precipitation (mm/yr)	41,710	0	1	48.465	0.232	< 0.001
最干月平均降雨量 Precipitation of driest month (mm/yr)	41,820	110	0	46.963	0.221	< 0.001
日照时数(白昼长的百分比) Mean annual sunshine (percent of daylength)	43,021	1,311	0	-27.903	0.091	0
年均实际蒸散量 Mean annual actual evapotranspiration (mm/yr)	43,071	1,361	0	26.895	0.085	< 0.001
年均相对湿度 Mean annual relative humidity (%)	43,479	1,769	0	17.021	0.036	0
年均风速 Mean annual wind speed	43,666	1,956	0	-9.861	0.012	< 0.001
年均潜在蒸散量 Mean annual potential evapotranspiration (mm/yr)	43,753	2,043	0	3.129	0.001	0.002
年均温度 Annual mean temperature (℃)	43,568	1,858	0	14.043	0.025	< 0.001
植被类型数 Vegetation (number of vegetation classes/quadrat)	43,758	2,048	0	-2.251	< 0.001	0.024
归一化植被指数 Normalized difference vegetation index	43,761	2,051	0	1.38	< 0.001	0.168
年均太阳辐射量 Mean annual solar radiation (W/m²)	43,761	2,051	0	-1.453	< 0.001	0.146

环境变量 Enviromental predictor	AICc	ΔAICc	Wi	t	R²	P
年均降雨量 Annual precipitation (mm/yr)	41,710	0	1	48.465	0.232	< 0.001
最干月平均降雨量 Precipitation of driest month (mm/yr)	41,820	110	0	46.963	0.221	< 0.001
日照时数(白昼长的百分比) Mean annual sunshine (percent of daylength)	43,021	1,311	0	-27.903	0.091	0
年均实际蒸散量 Mean annual actual evapotranspiration (mm/yr)	43,071	1,361	0	26.895	0.085	< 0.001
年均相对湿度 Mean annual relative humidity (%)	43,479	1,769	0	17.021	0.036	0
年均风速 Mean annual wind speed	43,666	1,956	0	-9.861	0.012	< 0.001
年均潜在蒸散量 Mean annual potential evapotranspiration (mm/yr)	43,753	2,043	0	3.129	0.001	0.002
年均温度 Annual mean temperature (℃)	43,568	1,858	0	14.043	0.025	< 0.001
植被类型数 Vegetation (number of vegetation classes/quadrat)	43,758	2,048	0	-2.251	< 0.001	0.024
归一化植被指数 Normalized difference vegetation index	43,761	2,051	0	1.38	< 0.001	0.168
年均太阳辐射量 Mean annual solar radiation (W/m²)	43,761	2,051	0	-1.453	< 0.001	0.146

假说 Hypothesis	R²	AICc	ΔAICc	K	Wi
生产力假说 Productivity energy	0.004	6,908	4,268	4	0
生境异质性假说 Habitat heterogeneity	0.005	6,898	4,258	3	0
能量假说 Ambient energy	0.173	5,462	2,822	5	0
水分-能量假说 Water-energy balance hypothesis	0.34	3,706	1,066	4	0
混合模型 Mixed model*	0.425	2,640	0	12	1