Fern species richness along a central Himalayan elevational gradient, Nepal

Bhattarai, Khem Raj; Vetaas, Ole R.; Grytnes, John Arvid

doi:10.1046/j.0305-0270.2003.01013.x

Cited by 268 publications

(379 citation statements)

References 71 publications

(87 reference statements)

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“…In this study, soil moisture did not have a significant effect on herb community composition. However, we cannot rule out the influence of soil moisture (Kessler 2001), as it is important to recognize that it reinforces or alleviates temperature stress (Bhattarai et al 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental filtering drives herb community composition and functional trait changes across an elevational gradient

Jiang¹,

Ma²

2015

Plecevo

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental filtering drives herb community composition and functional trait changes across an elevational gradient

Jiang¹,

Ma²

2015

Plecevo

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“…Bromeliaceae: Kessler 2001b, ferns: Kluge et al 2006). While the causes determining elevational richness patterns in plants remain poorly understood, available explanations may be grouped into four factor complexes (McCain 2009), namely (1) current climatic variables such as temperature and humidity (Kessler 2001a;Bhattarai et al 2004), which in turn determine energy availability and ecosystem productivity (Hawkins et al 2003;Currie et al 2004), (2) spatial aspects including regional areal size (Rosenzweig and Ziv 1999) and geometric constraints (Bachmann et al 2004, Grytnes et al 2008, (3) historical and evolutionary processes (Ricklefs 2004) and (4) biotic processes such as the Rapoport rescue hypothesis (Stevens 1989) or source-sink effects (Grytnes 2003;Kessler et al 2009). With the exception of area, which usually declines continuously with elevation, all of these factors may be related with hump-shaped species richness patterns.…”

Section: Elevational Richness and Density Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevational patterns of species richness and density of rattan palms (Arecaceae: Calamoideae) in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia

et al. 2011

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We studied species richness and density of rattan palms in 50 plots of 10 9 100 m 2 each between 250 m and 2420 m in eight sites in Lore Lindu National Park (LLNP), Central Sulawesi. Rattans were observed in all sample sites, representing three genera and 34 species. The elevational patterns for species richness and density were humped-shaped with maxima around 1000 m. Polynomial models of second order explained 59 and 32% of species richness and density with the factor elevation, respectively. A majority of rattan species (65%) overlapped between 1000 and 1100 m elevation, while a pronounced change in the rattan flora occurred above 1100 m. Commercially important rattan species (Calamus zollingeri, C. ornatus var. celebicus, Daemonorops macroptera) were not observed above 1250 m. The change of species assemblage was significantly related to elevation (56%), followed by geographical distance (47%) and precipitation (40%). Less than 10% of LLNP is lowland forests, much of which is threatened by agricultural intensification. In contrast, montane forests are well represented in the park and high elevation forests are not subject to agricultural conversion or intensive harvesting of rattan and other forest products.

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“…These differences include the choice of grain size and the extent and proportion of gradients sampled. Nevertheless, statistical correlations between these diverse patterns and associated patterns of climate 11,12 , area 8,13,14 and, more recently, geometric constrains 8,15 have been used as support for competing hypotheses 5,9,13,16,17 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Scale effects and human impact on the elevational species richness gradients

Bravo

Araújo

Romdal

et al. 2008

Nature

497

453

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Despite two centuries of effort in characterizing environmental gradients of species richness in search of universal patterns, surprisingly few of these patterns have been widely acknowledged [1][2][3] . Species richness along altitudinal gradients was previously assumed to increase universally from cool highlands to warm lowlands, mirroring the latitudinal increase in species richness from cool to warm latitudes 1,4,5 . However, since the more recent general acceptance of altitudinal gradients as model templates for testing hypotheses behind large-scale patterns of diversity 5-9 , these gradients have been used in support of all the main diversity hypotheses, although little consensus has been achieved. Here we show that when resampling a data set comprising 400,000 records for 3,046 Pyrenean floristic species at different scales of analysis (achieved by varying grain size and the extent of the gradients sampled), the derived species richness pattern changed progressively from hump-shaped to a monotonic pattern as the scale of extent diminished. Scale effects alone gave rise to as many conflicting patterns of species richness as had previously been reported in the literature, and scale effects lent significantly different statistical support to competing diversity hypotheses. Effects of scale on current studies may be affected by human activities, because montane ecosystems and human activities are intimately connected 10 . This interdependence has led to a global reduction in natural lowland habitats, hampering our ability to detect universal patterns and impeding the search for universal diversity gradients to discover the mechanisms determining the distribution of biological diversity on Earth.Studies of altitudinal gradients in species richness have increasingly replaced the latitudinal gradient as a model template for largescale gradient studies 9 . Altitudinal gradients encompass several gradients in climatic and environmental factors, such as area, net primary productivity and geometric constraints. These factors are expected to influence spatial variation in species richness (Supplementary Fig. 1) but are often correlated, making hypothesis testing problematic and controversial 3 . However, these very controversies make altitudinal gradients an illuminating field of study. A recent quantitative analysis of altitudinal species richness gradients including 204 data sets demonstrated that about 50% of the pattern distributions were hump-shaped, about 25% showed a monotonically decreasing pattern, and about 25% followed other distributions 9 . It has therefore been suggested that non-generality in altitudinal species richness patterns may be a result of differences in spatial design between studies 9 . These differences include the choice of grain size and the extent and proportion of gradients sampled. Nevertheless, statistical correlations between these diverse patterns and associated patterns of climate 11,12 , area 8,13,14 and, more recently, geometric constrains 8,15 have been used as support for comp...

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Fern species richness along a central Himalayan elevational gradient, Nepal

Cited by 268 publications

References 71 publications

Environmental filtering drives herb community composition and functional trait changes across an elevational gradient

Environmental filtering drives herb community composition and functional trait changes across an elevational gradient

Elevational patterns of species richness and density of rattan palms (Arecaceae: Calamoideae) in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia

Scale effects and human impact on the elevational species richness gradients

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