Diversity of Understory Communities in Boreal Forests: Influences of Forest Type, Latitude, and Spatial Scale

Abstract

Understory vegetation hosts high biodiversity and plays a critical role in the ecosystem processes of boreal forests. However, the drivers of understory plant diversity in this high-latitude ecosystem remain uncertain. To investigate the influences of forest type and latitude on understory beta diversity at different scales, we quantified the species composition of Vaccinium uliginosum Linnaeus communities under broadleaf and coniferous forests at two latitudes at the quadrat (2 × 2 m) and plot (10 × 10 m) scales in the Greater Xing’an Mountains, NE China. At the quadrat scale, species alpha diversity of V. uliginosum communities was higher in broadleaf forests than that in coniferous forests at both latitudes. The differences in species beta diversity (the Sørensen’s dissimilarity) in two forest types depended on the latitude: beta diversity in broadleaf forests was higher than that in coniferous forests at the higher latitude, while beta diversity in coniferous forests was higher at the lower latitude. At the plot scale, alpha and beta diversity of V. uliginosum communities decreased from broadleaf forests to coniferous forests at the higher latitude, and they did not show significant differences between forest types at the lower latitude. These results indicate the interactive effects of forest type and latitude on beta diversity of understory vegetation. Moreover, the influences of forest type and latitude on species alpha and beta diversity were different across the two spatial scales, suggesting that the assembly mechanisms underlying species diversity may be different at different scales. Understanding the maintenance of understory vegetation diversity will benefit the conservation and management of boreal forests.

Species diversity patterns differ by life stages in a pine-oak mixed forest

“…The progression from S3 to S5 is associated with increased competition and mortality, which can reduce both R and N (Li et al, 2019). Other factors, such as stand origin, floral and faunal communities, geography and climate, and disturbance may also influence the pattern and quantitative relationships of R and N among life stages (D'Amato et al, 2009;Ostertag et al, 2014;Jin et al, 2019;Ray et al, 2021).…”

“…Species diversity is closely related to the spatial scale of measurement, both within regions (e.g., climatic zones) and between them (Stein et al, 2014;Chisholm et al, 2018;Shankar, 2019). The relationships between R, abundance (N), and spatial scale have been well discussed, with much consideration of sampling methods, including quadrat shape and size (He et al, 1996;Turner & Tjørve, 2005;Hwang & He, 2011;Jin et al, 2019). Many studies have employed nested quadrats and assessed differences in R and N by grain size (He et al, 2002;Wang et al, 2007;Zhang et al, 2010).…”

Influence of wildfire on the rapidly changing features of patchy permafrost, Northeast China

“…Therefore, forested boreal wetlands are generally recognized as long‐term terrestrial carbon sinks (Gutenberg et al, 2019; Mu et al, 2013). Furthermore, as the largest terrestrial biomes covering 11% of the Earth's terrestrial surfaces, hemiboreal forest is also extensively found in Northeast China (Jin et al, 2019). Boreal forests and wetlands are sensitive and vulnerable to anthropogenic activities and climate change (Li et al, 2020; Șerban et al, 2021).…”