Karst in China

Yuan, Daoxian; Li, Bin; Liu, Zaihua

doi:10.18814/epiiugs/1995/v18i1.2/013

Cited by 24 publications

(19 citation statements)

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“…Among the world's most spectacular examples of terrestrial islands are limestone karst landforms. Limestone karsts comprise distinctive landforms resulting from hydrological action on, and dissolution of, highly soluble and porous carbonate (Yuan, 1991). The shallow soils of karsts and the physical attributes of the rock surface result in environmental conditions that vary from very dry and hot, with high evaporation rates, to very humid habitats where water flows down slopes and accumulates in caves.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographical pattern of isolation and diversification in karst habitat islands: a case study in the Primulina eburnea complex

Gao

Kong

et al. 2015

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim This study aimed to clarify species boundaries as well as phylogenetic relationships among species of the Primulina eburnea complex, a rapidly diversifying group of edaphic specialists confined to karst habitat islands in southern China. We investigated patterns of genetic isolation and diversification in this complex. Location Limestone karsts in southern China. Methods We analysed data from three chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) regions and eight nuclear microsatellite loci, representing five closely related species in the P. eburnea complex sampled from 62 populations across its entire distributional range. We conducted a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis, constructed maximum parsimony haplotype networks and assessed population genetic diversity, population differentiation and geographical structure within and between species. Results Of the 60 identified haplotypes, eight were shared between populations and only one was shared between species. Both cpDNA and the nuclear markers revealed a high level of population genetic differentiation and a strong phylogeographical structure. Four main genetic clusters were identified according to their geographical proximity, although geographical structuring differed slightly between the cpDNA and the nuclear loci. The pattern of genetic structure of both the cpDNA and microsatellite genomes can be explained by patterns of isolation by distance (IBD), across both the distribution of the complex and the populations of individual species. Main conclusions This is the first study to investigate geographical isolation and speciation in a clade associated with karst habitat islands in southern China. Geographically structured population differentiation of the P. eburnea complex suggests that divergence is mainly driven by genetic drift, with little evidence of gene flow. Allopatric speciation is the main mode of diversification in the group. These results highlight the importance of geographical isolation in promoting population differentiation in karst habitat islands.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographical pattern of isolation and diversification in karst habitat islands: a case study in the Primulina eburnea complex

Gao

Kong

et al. 2015

Journal of Biogeography

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“…The plant communities found in special soils, such as serpentine and Karst limestone, represent excellent systems for understanding elemental cycles and plant-soil interactions under climate changes. China has one of the largest Karst ecosystems in the world, which is primarily distributed in the subtropical mountainous regions of southern and south-western China (Yuan 1991;Wang, Liu & Zhang 2004). Although the ecological environment in Karst regions is extremely fragile, Karst plant communities exhibit remarkably high levels of species richness and endemism and make a large contribution to the floristic diversity of China.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untangling the influence of phylogeny, soil and climate on leaf element concentrations in a biodiversity hotspot

2014

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Summary1. Plant elemental properties are fundamentally important for physiology and biogeochemical cycling in ecosystems. No study has examined foliar elements and their interaction with soil and climate conditions at large geographic scales in Karst areas of China, a biodiversity hotspot in the world. Yet such information is important for understanding the functional diversity of nutrient strategies and the physiological adaptations of plants to climatic and edaphic heterogeneity. 2. We assessed the influence of phylogeny, soil type and the climate on leaf element concentrations in a clade of taxonomically diverse Karst plants from the subfamily Didymocarpoideae under an explicit phylogenetic framework. We measured leaf concentrations of seven elements and evaluated soil properties for 422 populations of 177 Didymocarpoideae species. The phylogenetic signals present in the leaf element concentrations and in soil and climatic variables were quantified at both the subfamily (Didymocarpoideae) and genus (Primulina) levels. The correlations between leaf elements and soil and climate conditions were analysed at these two phylogenetic scales. 3. The Didymocarpoideae subfamily is generally characterized by higher Ca and Mg contents relative to other plants in China. Across the subfamily, a strong phylogenetic signal is detected for all of the leaf elements analysed as well as for most soil and climate variables, whereas the genus Primulina exhibits no significant phylogenetic signal in leaf elements or in most soil variables. 4. We detected an influence of both soil and climatic conditions on leaf element concentrations. However, the patterns of the relationships between leaf elements and soil and climate variables vary at the subfamily and genus levels. The phylogeny has a stronger effect than soil and climatic factors on leaf element concentrations at the subfamily level, while the leaf element contents within the genus Primulina are mostly influenced by environmental conditions. We conclude that the influences of taxonomy, soil and climate on leaf element concentrations are dependent on the phylogenetic scale of analysis.

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“…Karst habitats account for 10-15% of the world land and 14% of the land of China, with a particularly extensive distribution in SW China (Yuan, 1991;Ford and Willams, 2007). Karst forests are also rich in plant diversity, with many endemic species (Zhu et al, 2003;Clements et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is fog an important water source for woody plants in an Asian tropical karst forest during the dry season?

Liu

Zhai

et al. 2015

Ecohydrology

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Fog is an important supplemental source of water in regions with heavy fog and little rainfall. In the present study, we used the stable isotope content of xylem water to investigate the dry season water source partition between soil and fog water of two evergreen tree species (Cleistanthus sumatranus and Lasiococca comberi), two deciduous tree species (Mayodendron igneum and Lagerstroemia tomentosa), two liana species (Acacia pennata and Combretum latifolium) and understory seedlings of three tree species (C. sumatranus, L. comberi and Celtis philippensis) in a tropical karst forest in southern Yunnan, China. The soil gravimetric water content (GWC) and volumetric water content (VWC), pre-dawn leaf water potential (Ψ pre-dawn ) and leaf water absorbance were also measured. There were no significant differences in both GWC and VWC among 10 to 100 cm depths in the dry season. In the dry season 2009, Ψ pre-dawn of the two evergreen tree species and the understory seedlings down to À4.5 to À6.3 MPa, and which were significantly lower than those of a normal dry season. The proportion that fog contributed to xylem water ranged from 15.8% (understory seedling of C. sumatranus) to 41.3% (liana species C. latifolium). After immersing in water for 3 h, leaves of all the studied species absorbed a significant volume of water. Our results reveal that the woody plants in the tropical karst forest of Xishuangbanna use fog water as an important supplement in the dry season, with more fog water being used by lianas than by trees.

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Karst in China

Cited by 24 publications

References 0 publications

Geographical pattern of isolation and diversification in karst habitat islands: a case study in the Primulina eburnea complex

Geographical pattern of isolation and diversification in karst habitat islands: a case study in the Primulina eburnea complex

Untangling the influence of phylogeny, soil and climate on leaf element concentrations in a biodiversity hotspot

Is fog an important water source for woody plants in an Asian tropical karst forest during the dry season?

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