Changes and drivers of plant community in the natural broadleaved forests across geographic gradient

Abstract

Geographic variation can lead to the changes of local plant species, which play crucial roles in primary production and ecosystem structure. Therefore, understanding multiple scale distribution patterns of plant species is important for us to effectively monitor ecosystem changes due to climate changes and other modifications. Here, we mainly investigated the distribution pattern of wood vascular plants and key environmental controlling forces in natural broadleaved forest along the latitudinal gradient across 24 geographic regions of China continental territory. The results showed that the richness and diversity of plant community significantly decreased with the increasing latitude. The similarity of plant community also decreased with increasing latitudinal distance. The mean annual precipitation and mean annual temperature played the most important roles in the distribution of plant community across latitudinal gradient, followed by soil pH and soil moisture.