How beta diversity and the underlying causes vary with sampling scales in the Changbai mountain forests
Date
2017-10
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study aims to establish a relationship between the sampling scale and tree species
beta diversity temperate forests and to identify the underlying causes of beta diversity
at different sampling scales. The data were obtained from three large observational
study areas in the Changbai mountain region in northeastern China. All trees with a
dbh ≥1 cm were stem-mapped
and measured. The beta diversity was calculated for
four different grain sizes, and the associated variances were partitioned into components
explained by environmental and spatial variables to determine the contributions
of environmental filtering and dispersal limitation to beta diversity. The results showed
that both beta diversity and the causes of beta diversity were dependent on the sampling
scale. Beta diversity decreased with increasing scales. The best-explained
beta
diversity variation was up to about 60% which was discovered in the secondary conifer
and broad-leaved
mixed forest (CBF) study area at the 40 × 40 m scale. The variation
partitioning result indicated that environmental filtering showed greater effects at
bigger grain sizes, while dispersal limitation was found to be more important at smaller
grain sizes. What is more, the result showed an increasing explanatory ability of environmental
effects with increasing sampling grains but no clearly trend of spatial
effects.
The study emphasized that the underlying causes of beta diversity variation
may be quite different within the same region depending on varying sampling scales.
Therefore, scale effects should be taken into account in future studies on beta diversity,
which is critical in identifying different relative importance of spatial and environmental
drivers on species composition variation.
Description
CITATION: Tan, L. et al. 2017. How beta diversity and the underlying causes vary with sampling scales in the Changbai mountain forests. Ecology & Evolution, 7(23):10116-10123. doi:/10.1002/ece3.3493.
The original publication is available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com
The original publication is available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Keywords
Beta (Plants) -- Forest biodiversity, Plants -- Dispersal, environmental filtering, Sampling -- Scales (Botany), Changbai Mountains (China and Korea)
Citation
Tan, L. et al. 2017. How beta diversity and the underlying causes vary with sampling scales in the Changbai mountain forests. Ecology & Evolution, 7(23):10116-10123. doi:/10.1002/ece3.3493.