Altitude effects on spatial components of vascular plant diversity in a subarctic mountain tundra

Naud, Lucy; Måsviken, Johannes; Freire, Susana E.; Angerbjörn, Anders; Dalén, Love; Dalerum, Fredrik

doi:10.1002/ece3.5081

Cited by 33 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…However, it does not mean there is no influence of topographic factors on plant richness, but very small relative to climate factors. As the topographic factors significantly impact the local species richness [38,39] and the latitude effect between richness-temperature [23,24], we analyze that the dominant factors of diversity at local and regional scales are topography and climate, respectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Temperature-Dominated Driving Mechanisms of the Plant Diversity in Temperate Forests, Northeast China

Han

Zhang

et al. 2020

Forests

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Climate, topography, and tree structure have different effects on plant diversity that vary with spatial scale. In this study, we assessed the contribution of these drivers and how they affect the vascular plant richness of different functional groups in a temperate forest ecosystem in Northeast China. We investigated about 0.986 million plants from 3160 sites to quantify the impact of annual mean temperature, sunshine duration, annual precipitation, standard deviation of diameter at breast height, and forest type on richness of vascular plants (total species, tree, treelet, shrub, and herb, separately) using the gradient boosting model. The results show that annual mean temperature had the strongest impact on plant richness. The tree richness peaked at intermediate annual mean temperature and sunshine duration and increased with annual precipitation. The Shannon diversity index and Simpson dominance index increased with annual precipitation and standard deviation of diameter at breast height, decreased with sunshine duration, and peaked at intermediate annual mean temperature and forest type. The total richness and understory richness increased with annual mean temperature and standard deviation of diameter at breast height and peaked at intermediate sunshine duration and annual precipitation. A comprehensive mechanism was found to regulate the plant diversity in forest ecosystems. The relationship between tree richness and annual mean temperature with latitudinal effect could be affected by the differences in number and size of tree individuals, indicating that plant diversity varies with the utilization of energy. The force driving plant richness varied with the functional group due to the different environmental resource requirements and the life history strategies of plants layers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Climatic gradient is considered as the main abiotic factor controlling large-scale species diversity [21][22][23][24]. Strong positive relationships between climate and plant richness are mainly impacted by temperature variations as well as latitude effects [23,25,26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperature-Dominated Driving Mechanisms of the Plant Diversity in Temperate Forests, Northeast China

Han

Zhang

et al. 2020

Forests

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“…Less attention has been given to spatial variation in communities across altitude (Rahbek, 2005). Although beta diversity is highly influenced by the spatial scale over which it is measured, the dilution of communities at high altitudes is expected to give rise to a spatial homogenization and a subsequent altitude‐related decline in beta diversity (Naud et al, 2019). Such patterns have been observed, but do not appear to be uniform across all spatial scales (Naud et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although beta diversity is highly influenced by the spatial scale over which it is measured, the dilution of communities at high altitudes is expected to give rise to a spatial homogenization and a subsequent altitude‐related decline in beta diversity (Naud et al, 2019). Such patterns have been observed, but do not appear to be uniform across all spatial scales (Naud et al, 2019). Alpha and beta diversity, and subsequently gamma diversity, is driven by primary productivity and increasing altitude decreases productivity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Modularity is a well‐established concept in nonspatial networks such as food webs and social networks (Newman, 2006), but are less investigated in biogeography partly because of previous lack of sufficient theoretical work and statistical methods (Hausdorf & Hennig, 2007; Thébault, 2013). Nested and modular structures are highly suitable to evaluate community transition along environmental gradients (Naud et al, 2019), where nested patterns suggest that communities at low diversity sites are maintained by generalist species. Modular patterns, on the other hand, suggest that each level of the gradients is inhabited by species specialized to its specific conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contrasting altitudinal variation of alpine plant communities along the Swedish mountains

Måsviken

Dalerum

Cousins

2020

Ecology and Evolution

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Changes in abiotic factors along altitudinal and latitudinal gradients cause powerful environmental gradients. The topography of alpine areas generates environmental gradients over short distances, and alpine areas are expected to experience greater temperature increase compared to the global average. In this study, we investigate alpha, beta, and gamma diversity, as well as community structure, of vascular plant communities along altitudinal gradients at three latitudes in the Swedish mountains. Species richness and evenness decreased with altitude, but the patterns within the altitudinal gradient varied between sites, including a sudden decrease at high altitude, a monotonic decrease, and a unimodal pattern. However, we did not observe a decline in beta diversity with altitude at all sites, and plant communities at all sites were spatially nested according to some other factors than altitude, such as the availability of water or microtopographic position. Moreover, the observed diversity patterns did not follow the latitudinal gradient. We observed a spatial modularity according to altitude, which was consistent across sites. Our results suggest strong influences of site‐specific factors on plant community composition and that such factors partly may override effects from altitudinal and latitudinal environmental variation. Spatial variation of the observed vascular plant communities appears to have been caused by a combination of processes at multiple spatial scales.

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Turnover in butterfly communities and traits along an elevational gradient in the eastern Himalaya, India

2022

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Beta (β)-diversity varies along environmental gradients, and understandingwhat drives such variation might provide insights into the factors that shape community structure from place to place. Here, we delineate the spatial pattern of β-diversity, analyze its underlying mechanisms, and examine variation in functional traits of butterflies along an extensive elevational gradient (300-3000 m) in the eastern Himalaya, the largest mountain system in the world. We sampled butterflies at 16 sites along this gradient using a fixedwidth point count method and estimated habitat variables at each site. We obtained trait data from our field collections and secondary sources as necessary. We partitioned β-diversity into its turnover, nestedness, balanced variation, and abundance gradient components. We used generalized dissimilarity modeling to determine the underlying mechanisms affecting the pattern of β-diversity along the gradient. The pattern of β-diversity in butterflies at adjacent sites exhibited a mid elevation peak. Dissimilarity between sites increased with the increase in distance between the sites. Turnover or the balanced variation made major contributions to the overall β-diversity. Among the set of factors, actual evapotranspiration was positively correlated with β-diversity.The trait-based analysis revealed biogeographic affinity as the best predictor of community composition along the elevational gradient. The high β-diversity arises from turnover rather than nestedness component. We conclude that the pattern of β-diversity of butterflies in the Himalaya is largely due to environmental filtering rather than geographic extent.

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Altitude effects on spatial components of vascular plant diversity in a subarctic mountain tundra

Cited by 33 publications

References 80 publications

Temperature-Dominated Driving Mechanisms of the Plant Diversity in Temperate Forests, Northeast China

Temperature-Dominated Driving Mechanisms of the Plant Diversity in Temperate Forests, Northeast China

Contrasting altitudinal variation of alpine plant communities along the Swedish mountains

Turnover in butterfly communities and traits along an elevational gradient in the eastern Himalaya, India

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