Partitioning beta diversity in a tropical karst seasonal rainforest in Southern China

Yili Guo,Tao Ding,Azim U Mallik,Fuzhao Huang,Shujun Wen,Xiankun Li,Han Y H Chen,Wusheng Xiang,Bin Wang,Shuhua Lu,Dongxing Li

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-35410-7

Yili Guo, Tao Ding + Show 9 more

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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35410-7

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Abstract

Both deterministic and stochastic processes have been linked to forest community assembly; however, their contribution to beta diversity has not been properly explored, and no studies to date have investigated their impacts on sparse depleted soils in forests that contain widespread exposed limestone karst. We found that the pairwise differences in species composition between quadrates was determined by a balanced variation in abundance, whereby the individuals of some species at one site were substituted by an equivalent number of individuals of different species at another site. Both the total beta diversity and its balanced variation in abundance declined with increasing sampling grain size. Our research indicated that environmental differences exert a strong influence on beta diversity, particularly total beta diversity and its balanced abundance variation in larger grain sizes. It was evident that deterministic and stochastic processes worked together, and that deterministic processes were more important than stochastic processes in the regulation of beta diversity in this heterogeneous tropical karst seasonal rainforest of Southern China. However, in future research a functional trait based approach will be required to tease out the relative degree of deterministic and stochastic processes toward an assessment of the temporal changes in species composition.

Highlights

Patterns of site-to-site variations in community composition can provide fundamental insights into the processes that create and maintain species diversity[1,2]
The Baselga family separates beta diversity into two components: (i) balanced variation in abundance, whereby the individuals of some species at one site are substituted by the same number of individuals of different species at another site, and (ii) abundance gradients, whereby some individuals are lost from one site or the other[6,8]
Deterministic and stochastic processes jointly drive community assembly and meta-community dynamics, but it is difficult to quantify the relative importance of each process in natural vegetation, as their relative importance might vary with spatial scale[20,21] and the quality or quantity of environmental data[22]

Summary

Introduction

Patterns of site-to-site variations in community composition (beta diversity) can provide fundamental insights into the processes that create and maintain species diversity[1,2]. Few studies on the partitioning of beta diversity have been conducted in forest ecosystems with novel abundance-based metrics, one being from Sfair, et al.[15] This novel partition may be useful toward the assessment of biodiversity patterns and for exploring the mechanistic underpinnings of these patterns, in that substitution and loss of individuals may derive from completely different processes[6]. Environmental filtering of deterministic processes refers to abiotic factors that prevent the establishment, or persistence, of species in particular locations[19] From this perspective, the ambient environment is seen as a selective force, which culls species that are unable to tolerate conditions at a particular site. Deterministic and stochastic processes jointly drive community assembly and meta-community dynamics, but it is difficult to quantify the relative importance of each process in natural vegetation, as their relative importance might vary with spatial scale[20,21] and the quality or quantity of environmental data[22]

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