The Relative Importance of Environmental Filtering and Dispersal Limitation on the Multidimensional Beta Diversity of Desert Plant Communities Depends on Sampling Scales

Dong, Hui; Jiang, Longyang; Zhang, Yao-Hua; Shen, Qing; Hou, Zhufeng; Zhang, Jie; Lv, Guanghui; Yue, Ming

doi:10.1007/s42729-023-01425-x

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In an alpine ecosystem, environmental factors were shown to be more important than geographic distance for sharping the pattern of beta diversity by most of the studies (Hu et al, 2022;Malanson et al, 2022;Zellweger et al, 2017). However, it was also found that phylogenetic beta diversity patterns were shaped mainly by dispersal constraints (Hu et al, 2023). Investigating the patterns and determine factors of beta diversity can provide important insights into the mechanisms underlying the maintenance of biodiversity and offer useful information for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management (Deli et al, 2023;Socolar et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of desert plant beta diversity on the Qinghai–Tibet plateau

Wen,

Zhao,

Sun

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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The desert ecosystem of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) is an important component of China's desert ecosystem. Studying the mechanisms shaping the taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional beta diversity of plant communities in the QTP desert will help us to promote scientific conservation and management of the region's biodiversity. This study investigated the effects of environmental (including altitude, climate factors, and soil factors) and geographic distances on three facets of beta diversity as well as their turnover and nestedness components based on field survey data. The results showed that turnover components dominate the three facets of beta diversity. However, the turnover contributions to phylogenetic and functional beta diversity were lower than for taxonomic beta diversity. Environmental distance had a greater influence than geographic distance, with the former uniquely explaining 15.2%–22.8% of beta diversity and the latter explaining only 1.7%–2.4%. Additionally, the explanatory power of different factors for beta diversity differed between herbs and shrubs, with environmental distance being more important for the latter. Distance‐based redundancy analysis suggested that soil total potassium content had a substantial impact on the beta diversity of three dimensions, with mean temperature of the coldest month and soil total phosphorus content having a substantial impact on taxonomic and functional beta diversity as well. Our results support that environmental sorting plays a predominant role in shaping plant community composition across QTP desert ecosystems. To maintain the plant diversity of this region, it is crucial to prioritize the conservation of its diverse environmental conditions and actively mitigate its degradation by anthropogenic pressures.

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