Phylogenetic structure of a community could effectively reflect underlying ecological processes of a community. Understanding phylogenetic structure of a community will help reveal the ecological processes associated with community dynamics. Data in a 1-ha plot were divided into quadrats at three spatial scales (10 m×10 m, 20 m×20 m, and 25 m×25 m) and three DBH sizes (1 cm ≤ DBH<5 cm, 5 cm ≤ DBH<10 cm, DBH ≥ 10 cm) to compare phylogenetic structures and to infer ecological processes of the community in a deciduous broad-leaved forest in the Baotianman National Nature Reserve. It was shown that NRI (net relatedness index) and NTI (net nearest taxa index) decreased with increasing spatial scales and DBH sizes. These results indicated that, phylogenetic structure of this community were overdispersed at different spatial scales and DBH sizes; and phylogenetic density dependence exerted higher effect on lager DBH classes than smaller ones. Our results suggested that phylogenetic density dependence is an important mechanism in regulating species diversity and shaping community structure of the deciduous broad-leaved for
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.