Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1093/jpe/rtw047
Title (Primary) Effects of topography on structuring species assemblages in a subtropical forest
Author Wang, Q.; Punchi-Manage, R.; Lu, Z.; Franklin, S.B.; Wang, Z.; Li, Y.; Chi, X.; Bao, D.; Guo, Y.; Lu, J.; Xu, Y.; Qiao, X.; Jiang, M.
Source Titel Journal of Plant Ecology
Year 2017
Department OESA
Volume 10
Issue 3
Page From 440
Page To 449
Language englisch
Supplements https://oup.silverchair-cdn.com/oup/backfile/Content_public/Journal/jpe/10/3/10.1093_jpe_rtw047/2/rtw047_suppl_Appendix_JPE_2015_0275_.doc?Expires=1525777091&Signature=dy-OKOZ~emNVxggIcxhCIsgD-xkmYEgGigC0shRt2awFcak3uGuwaB-Uo2GsItNJtZ5nU28iFOKSYCpKcKfkcVL9tyzRXZeT6gRhZAZACny03NnQSym7YLN2oDKNylits3XAtDnVv2CkJ5JVqGnXEQ5nOQ7nsebYLLLtMhZchSoJf3tRUEvJBgLCViI7Kw~yk0BsQ4wiZ-c0PTeg7ivYTZH3KNQ2PCtHIkWF42iKzQZI9Ydbl27PhIJ6NY7rzOdjuYMRpvlEO32HQ42xjso4pVsj7CuGLxwATGRHfwORC6Dh6CVSutABfvdF873whBGPZXwawleWYFdjZwTH5gTvkw__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIE5G5CRDK6RD3PGA
Keywords Keywords: multivariate regression tree analysis, habitat filtering, rare species, Badagongshan
UFZ wide themes RU5;
Abstract

Aims

Topography has long been recognized as an important factor in shaping species distributions. Many studies revealed that species may show species–habitat associations. However, few studies investigate how species assemblages are associated with local habitats, and it still remains unclear how the community–habitat associations vary with species abundance class and life stage. In this study, we analyzed the community–habitat associations in a subtropical montane forest.

Methods

The fully mapped 25-ha (500×500 m) forest plot is located in Badagongshan Nature Reserve in Hunan Province, Central China. It was divided into 625 (20×20 m) quadrats. Habitat types were classified by multivariate regression tree analyses that cluster areas with similar species composition according to the topographic characteristics. Indicator species analysis was used to identify the most important species for structuring species assemblages. We also compared the community–habitat associations for two levels of species abundances (i.e. abundant and rare) and three different life stages (i.e. saplings, juveniles and adults), while accounting for sample size effects.

Important Findings

The Badagongshan plot was divided into five distinct habitat types, which explained 34.7% of the variance in tree species composition. Even with sample size taken into account, community–habitat associations for rare species were much weaker than those for abundant species. Also when accounting for sample size, very small differences were found in the variance explained by topography for the three life stages. Indicator species of habitat types were mainly abundant species, and nearly all adult stage indicator species were also indicators in juvenile and sapling stages. Our study manifested that topographical habitat filtering was important in shaping overall local species compositions. However, habitat filtering was not important in shaping rare species’ distributions in this forest. The community–habitat association patterns in this forest were mainly shaped by abundant species. In addition, during the transitions from saplings to juveniles, and from juveniles to adults, the relative importance of habitat filtering was very weak.

Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=19163
Wang, Q., Punchi-Manage, R., Lu, Z., Franklin, S.B., Wang, Z., Li, Y., Chi, X., Bao, D., Guo, Y., Lu, J., Xu, Y., Qiao, X., Jiang, M. (2017):
Effects of topography on structuring species assemblages in a subtropical forest
J. Plant Ecol. 10 (3), 440 - 449 10.1093/jpe/rtw047