Elevation and aspect determine the differences in soil properties and plant species diversity on Himalayan mountain summits

Abstract

Although vegetation has been the focus of recent studies on mountain summits, little is known about smaller‐scale spatial patterns of soil physico‐chemical properties. Here, we report patterns and drivers of soil physico‐chemical properties and their role in shaping the plant diversity on mountain summits of the Himalaya. Using the globally standardized Multi‐Summit Approach, four summits along an elevation gradient from treeline to nival zone were selected in Kashmir Himalaya. Sampling of the summits was carried out to collect soil samples together with vegetation data and soil temperature. The results revealed that there is a significant effect of elevation and aspect on soil physico‐chemical properties and species richness on the summits. A significant correlation was observed between soil parameters and elevation, indicating that summits with distinct pool of species possess distinct soil properties. Moreover, soil temperature clearly determined the aspect‐wise distribution of soil parameters and species richness. The Canonical Correspondence Analysis revealed that elevation, soil temperature, pH, electrical conductivity and C:N ratio were more prominent in determining the plant diversity on summits. Our results demonstrate that mosaic of micro‐climatic conditions driven by elevation and aspect favor a suite of soil properties, which in turn determine the patterns of species diversity on the mountain summits. The present study, therefore, enhances understanding of the spatial patterns of variation in soil and plant diversity of mountain summits, which will help to monitor, model and predict how these ecologically unique ecosystems will respond to climate warming in the Himalaya, with implications for such environments elsewhere.

Elevation, aspect, and habitat heterogeneity determine plant diversity and compositional patterns in the Kashmir Himalaya

“…Micro-climatic conditions may vary significantly over short spatial scales in mountainous areas due to the steep environmental gradients and thus substantially influence vegetation distribution and species richness patterns (McCain and Grytnes, 2010). Hamid et al (2021) found significant differences in the edaphic properties along elevation gradients and changing aspects in their study. They also discovered that aspect play an important role, in addition to elevation, in determining the survival of plant populations in mountainous areas.…”

Herbivore assemblages affect soil microbial communities by altering root biomass and available nutrients in an alpine meadow

“…These results indicate that the difference in bacterial b-diversity was due to the dominant species, whereas in fungi was due to rare species. Theoretically, different plant characteristics and soil environments can create different niches (Hamid et al, 2021), and, consequently, affect specific soil microbial communities (Pot et al, 2022). In the current study, bacterial b-diversity was driven mainly by plant a-diversity and root biomass, but fungal b-diversity was driven mainly by AK and SBD.…”

Species richness and turnover patterns for tropical and temperate plants on the elevation gradient of the eastern Himalayan Mountains

“…This raises the question of whether correlations with climate variables for these species on the elevation gradient could be misleading, because their ranges extend beyond the elevations that many biogeographic studies 10.3389/fevo.2022.942759 in this region of the Himalaya have measured. Many studies have sought climate and environmental drivers for patterns of species richness (e.g., Carpenter, 2005;Acharya et al, 2011;Manish et al, 2017;Rana et al, 2019;Hamid et al, 2021). Our study raises the question of how much influence do species with ranges that extend beyond the elevation gradient have upon the measures of species richness that are used as response variables in studies that correlate climate and environmental conditions with species richness patterns?…”

“…One region with relatively low species occurrence records is the eastern Himalaya, although many studies have used limited data to examine elevational patterns of woody vascular plant species, including Carpenter (2005), Behera and Kushwaha (2007), Acharya et al (2011), Kluge et al (2017), Manish et al (2017), Rana et al (2019), Sharma et al (2019), Tiwari et al (2020), and Hamid et al (2021). The majority of these studies seek to quantify mid-elevation species richness patterns, to associate environmental predictors with elevational patterns of species richness or turnover, or to differentiate elevational distribution patterns according to various plant traits including endemism and life form.…”