Drivers and patterns of α- and β-diversity in ten main forest community types in Gutianshan, eastern China

doi:10.17520/biods.2018171

Abstract

Abstract:

Located in the subtropical zone of China, Gutianshan National Nature Reserve (GNNR) contains a variety of forest community types and is rugged in terrain. Here, we established 79 forest plots, each 20 m × 20 m in area, within the ten main community types of GNNR. Based on this, we analyzed the α- (Shannon- Wiener index) and β- (Horn-Morisita dissimilarity index) diversity patterns of and between these community types and their underlying driving factors. We found that: (1) Community type, elevation and aspect were the most important determinants of α-diversity. α-diversity showed significant differences between community types, and increased with elevation and northness. (2) Community type and elevation, but not spatial distance significantly affected β-diversity. β-diversity between community types was higher than within community type, and β-diversity also increased with increasing elevation. These results show that community type and elevation are the main influencing factors of the α- and β-diversity patterns in GNNR forests, and further suggest the importance of drivers, such as habitat filtering, on the assembly of GNNR forests.

Key words: community assembly, subtropical forests, α diversity;, β diversity;, elevation, aspect, community type

Weng Changlu,Zhang Tiantian,Wu Donghao,Chen Shengwen,Jin Yi,Ren Haibao,Yu Mingjian,Luo Yuanyuan. Drivers and patterns of α- and β-diversity in ten main forest community types in Gutianshan, eastern China[J]. Biodiv Sci, 2019, 27(1): 33-41.

Figures/Tables 10

Fig. 1 The locations of 79 forest community plots. EBLF, EDBLF, PTF, PTBLF, DBLF, PMF, PMBLF, CLP, CLBLF and COP are the same as in Table 1.

Table 1 The area of each forest community type, the number of each plot and sample area

群落类型 Community type	群落面积 Community area (ha)	样地个数 Number of plots	取样面积 Sample area (ha)
常绿阔叶林 Evergreen broad-leaved forest (EBLF)	4,778.9	24	0.96
常绿落叶阔叶混交林 Evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest (EDBLF)	444.1	11	0.44
黄山松林 Pinus taiwanensis forest (PTF)	14.3	2	0.08
黄山松针阔叶混交林 Pinus taiwanensis and broad-leaved trees mixed forest (PTBLF)	152.7	4	0.16
落叶阔叶林 Deciduous broad-leaved forest (DBLF)	18.5	2	0.08
马尾松林 Pinus massoniana forest (PMF)	217.8	4	0.16
马尾松针阔叶混交林 Pinus massoniana and broad-leaved trees mixed forest (PMBLF)	329.6	12	0.48
杉木林 Cunninghamia lanceolata plantation (CLP)	549.8	9	0.36
杉木针阔叶混交林 Cunninghamia lanceolata and broad-leaved trees mixed forest (CLBLF)	30	2	0.08
油茶林 Camellia oleifera plantation (COP)	1,516.1	9	0.36

Fig. 2 The difference of α diversity in different community types in Gutianshan National Nature Reserve. The different letter on the top of the column shows that there is significant difference between the groups (P < 0.05, Holm method correction), otherwise there is no significant difference. EBLF, EDBLF, PTF, PTBLF, DBLF, PMF, PMBLF, CLP, CLBLF and COP are the same as in Table 1.

Fig. 3 The forest community α diversity (Shannon-Wiener index) along an altitudinal gradient in Gutianshan National Nature Reserve. The circles are actual observations; the solid line is the fitted value; the shadow is 95% confidence intervals.

Fig. 4 The forest community α diversity (Shannon-Wiener index) along the north direction in Gutianshan National Nature Reserve. The circles are actual observations; the solid line is the fitted value; the shadow is 95% confidence intervals.

Table 2 Variance analysis results of the effects of topography and forest community type on forest community α diversity (Shannon-Wiener index) in Gutianshan National Nature Reserve

	自由度 Degree of freedom	总方差 Total variance	均方差 Mean variance	F	P
海拔 Elevation	1	15.716	15.716	91.393	< 0.001
坡度 Slope	1	0.550	0.550	3.200	0.078
东西向 East-west	1	0.414	0.414	2.407	0.126
南北向 South-north	1	0.828	0.828	4.817	0.032
群落类型 Community type	9	42.872	4.764	27.702	< 0.001
残差 Residuals	65	11.177	0.172

Fig. 5 Non-metric Multidimensional scaling (NMDS) result of species composition of the different community types in Gutianshan National Nature Reserve. EBLF, EDBLF, PTF, PTBLF, DBLF, PMF, PMBLF, CLP, CLBLF and COP are the same as in Table 1.

Fig. 6 Comparison of β diversity (Horn-Morisita dissimilarity idex) within the same community type and between different community types. The different letter on the top of the column shows that there is significant difference between the groups (P < 0.05, t-test), otherwise there is no significant difference.

Fig. 7 The forest community β diversity (Horn-Morisita dissimilarity index) along an altitudinal gradient in Gutianshan National Nature Reserve. The circles are actual observations; the solid line is the fitted value; the shadow is 95% confidence intervals.

Table 3 Effects of geographical distance, topography and community type on forest community β diversity (Horn-Morisita index) in Gutianshan National Nature Reserve (R2 = 0.262)

	效应 Effect	t	P
空间距离 Spatial distance	0.002	1.497	0.415
海拔 Elevation	0.066	15.148	0.001
坡度 Slope	-0.006	-1.635	0.391
南北向 North-South	0.0052	1.370	0.347
东西向 East-West	0.0035	0.836	0.635
群落类型 Community type	0.2393	25.415	0.001

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