Environmental Drivers of Patterns of Plant Diversity Along a Wide Environmental Gradient in Korean Temperate Forests

Abstract

Understanding patterns of biodiversity and their drivers along environmental gradients is one of the central topics in ecology. However, whether diversity patterns along environmental gradients differ among diversity components as well as life forms and what kind of variables control or interact to shape the diversity patterns are poorly known. This study scrutinized the distribution patterns of three plant groups with four diversity indices and evaluated the effects of regional area, topography, topographic heterogeneity, climate, primary productivity, vegetation structure diversity and vegetation type diversity along an extensive elevational gradient on the Baekdudaegan Mountains in South Korea. Different elevational patterns, including hump-shaped, reversed hump-shaped, increasing, multimodal and no relationship, were observed among both the diversity indices and the plant groups. Regional area, habitat heterogeneity and climate were included to explain most of the elevational diversity patterns. In particular, habitat heterogeneity was the most important variable for explaining the patterns of diversity. The results suggest that patterns of elevational diversity may differ not only among plant groups but also among diversity indices and that such patterns are primarily caused by habitat heterogeneity in the Baekdudaegan Mountains because more heterogeneous and diverse habitats can support more coexisting species.

Woody Species Composition in Relation to Spatial and Environmental Gradients in Acacia-Commiphora Vegetation Ecosystem of Ethiopia

“…This pattern may also indicate the indirect impact of altitudinal gradients and topographic aspects on the species composition by limiting the habitat quality and suitability such as soil fertility, precipitation and temperature to support the vegetation which thereby shape the spatial structure of the community assemblages [29][30][31][32][33]11]. Moreover, our study is in congruent with the findings of the previous studies [33][34][35][36] that indicated the effect of altitude gradient on species composition. Here, the species composition may be determined by the ecological processes such as environmental filters, biotic interactions and species specific neutral mechanism properties such as dispersal limitation [20,30,37,38].…”

Effect of altitudinal gradients on forest structure and composition on ridge tops in Garhwal Himalaya

“…The total species richness was greatest at lower elevation (warmer sites) as compared to the higher elevation (cooler sites). Assessment of biodiversity and their drivers along environmental gradients is one of the central topics in ecology (Lee and Chun 2016). The variation in quantitative parameters, species richness as well as forest composition among all studied RTEs may be due to difference in climatic, physiographic and edaphic factors.…”

“…In Himalayan region, elevation and climatic factors are the governing factors for regional differences in species composition (Lee and Chun 2016;Sharma et al 2016). Furthermore, it is supposed that in the event of a rise in temperature at lower elevations the movement/migration of vegetation would be toward upper elevational (Chen and Hill 2011).…”

Temperature-Dominated Driving Mechanisms of the Plant Diversity in Temperate Forests, Northeast China

“…One of the earliest and most fundamental topics in both biology and ecology is the determination of species diversity [1][2][3][4][5], due to its importance for biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use and planning of nature reserves and forest management [6]. Species richness, as an important component of biodiversity, provides preliminary insights into the distribution of diversity and its crucial drivers on different scales [7][8][9].…”