The mid‐domain effect and habitat complexity applied to elevational gradients: Moss species richness in a temperate semihumid monsoon climate mountain of China

Gao, De; Fu, Liqin; Sun, Jiaxing; Li, Yan; Cao, Zhen; Liu, Yongying; Xu, Peng; Jiancheng, Zhao

doi:10.1002/ece3.7576

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 103 publications

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“…The MDE was introduced to address the complexity of climatic and non-climatic factors on richness patterns 21,22,42 . Some studies supported the MDE in other regions of China 23,25 . However, the MDE was found to be the least expressed variable in the richness pattern of threatened species (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Further, the MDE states that the diversity in species richness in mountain domains is independent of any environmental gradients and that it represents a "null model" for diversity patterns 21,22 . Some studies have validated the effect of the MDE in the mountains of China [23][24][25] . In the present paper, the effects of temperature, precipitation, PET, DIST, and the MDE responsible for the richness pattern of threatened plants in Sichuan Province were examined.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Precipitation and potential evapotranspiration determine the distribution patterns of threatened plant species in Sichuan Province, China

Pandey

Dakhil

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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A fundamental goal of ecologists is to determine the large-scale gradients in species richness. The threatened plants are the priority of such studies because of their narrow distribution and confinement to a specific habitat. Studying the distribution patterns of threatened plants is crucial for identifying global conservation prioritization. In this study, the richness pattern of threatened plant species along spatial and elevation gradients in Sichuan Province of China was investigated, considering climatic, habitat-heterogeneity (HHET), geometric constraint and human-induced factors. The species richness pattern was analyzed, and the predictor variables, including mean annual temperature (MAT), mean annual precipitation (MAP), potential evapotranspiration (PET), HHET, and disturbance (DIST), to species richness were linked using the geographical distribution data of threatened species compiled at a spatial resolution of 20 km × 20 km. Generalized linear models and structural equation modelling were used to determine the individual and combined effects of each variable on species richness patterns. Results showed a total of 137 threatened plant species were distributed between 200 and 4800 m.a.s.l. The central region of the province harbors the highest species diversity. MAP and PET profoundly explained the richness pattern. Moreover, the significant role of DIST in the richness patterns of threatened plants was elucidated. These findings could help determine the richness pattern of threatened plant species in other mountainous regions of the world, with consideration of the impact of climate change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

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confidence: 99%

Precipitation and potential evapotranspiration determine the distribution patterns of threatened plant species in Sichuan Province, China

Pandey

Dakhil

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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“…For example, shrubs in the Himalayas reached the maximum value at the elevation of about 1600 m [54], and the plant species on Mount Kenya did so at the elevation of 3900 m [55]. The niche overlap elevation may have been caused by species characteristics, for example, the mid-domain effect of moss species which occurred at 1600 m [56], and climate change [57]. This hypothesis was based on three premises: (1) ecological disturbances had significant impacts on species richness;…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics and Driving Mechanisms of Understory Vegetation Diversity Patterns in Central and Southern China

Xiao,

Tian,

Song

et al. 2024

Forests

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Large-scale forest restoration projects significantly reduce the net rates of forest loss. However, as a key component of forest restoration, planted forests have failed to restore biodiversity. China has implemented a large-scale afforestation program, which includes pure planted forests in particular, leading to various changes in ecosystem processes. Despite this, a comprehensive analysis of understory vegetation diversity patterns in these pure planted forests is still lacking. This study aimed to analyze the data on understory vegetation diversity from three typical pure and natural forest ecosystems of Hunan ecological forests to reveal their diversity patterns. The results revealed no significant difference in the understory diversity index between natural and pure forest types, although natural forests had a bigger species pool. The Zipf–Mandelbrot model was a better fit for species abundance distribution. The fitted results suggested that both environmental filtering and neutral processes affected the species abundance distribution and pure understory communities during restoration succession. Natural forests had the most stable understory diversity structure, whereas pure Phyllostachys heterocycla (Carr.) Mitford forests had the least stable structure. Multivariate regression tree analysis identified indicator species for each community. The gradient boosting model indicated that isothermality and slope direction were the most important factors affecting diversity. The β-diversity analysis showed that community establishment in the four forest types was affected via different mechanisms. The findings of this study have significant implications for understanding the impact of afforestation on the mechanisms for maintaining diversity.

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“…The MDE emphasizes the role of geometric boundaries in constraining species ranges, leading to a mid-elevation peak of species richness [ 63 ]. It has frequently been supported as a key determiner of elevational patterns of species richness [ 51 , 60 , 64 ]. The predictive power of MDE is strongly affected by the boundaries of the domain, which requires studies to cover the “hard” boundaries for organisms [ 14 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Disturbance and Geometric Constraints Drive Small Mammal Diversity and Community Structure along an Elevational Gradient in Eastern China

Pei

Ren

et al. 2022

Animals

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Understanding the mechanisms influencing patterns and processes of biological diversity is critical to protecting biodiversity, particularly in species-rich ecosystems such as mountains. Even so, there is limited knowledge of biodiversity patterns and processes in the mountains of eastern China, especially about small mammals. In this study, we examined the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of small mammal distribution and community structure along the elevational gradient of Qingliang Mountain, eastern China. We then evaluated how they are influenced by space (area and mid-domain effect (MDE)), environment (temperature, precipitation, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)), and human disturbance. The results showed hump-shaped patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity along elevation gradients, peaking at 1000 m, unlike functional diversity, which peaked at lower elevations (600 m). The mean pairwise distance and mean nearest taxon distance of functional and phylogenetic variance (MFD and MPD, respectively) were also incongruent. The MFD and MPD showed hump-shaped patterns along elevations; however, unlike MFD, which peaked at lower elevations (600 m), MPD peaked at higher elevations (1200 m). The mean nearest functional taxon distance (MNFD) decreased, while the mean nearest phylogenetic taxon distance (MNTD) increased along the elevation gradient. The higher elevations were functionally more clustered, while the lower elevations were phylogenetically more clustered, suggesting that environmental filtering for traits was stronger at higher elevations. In comparison, phylogenetic conservatism of ecological niches had a stronger influence at lower elevations. The diversity and community structure indices were inconsistently explained, with human disturbance and MDE accounting for the biggest proportions of the model-explained variances. Overall, the results confirm that environmental filtering and human disturbance significantly influence small mammals’ diversity and community structure. These findings also emphasize the need for increased conservation efforts in the middle and lower elevation regions of Qingliang Mountain.

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The mid‐domain effect and habitat complexity applied to elevational gradients: Moss species richness in a temperate semihumid monsoon climate mountain of China

Cited by 7 publications

References 103 publications

Precipitation and potential evapotranspiration determine the distribution patterns of threatened plant species in Sichuan Province, China

Precipitation and potential evapotranspiration determine the distribution patterns of threatened plant species in Sichuan Province, China

Characteristics and Driving Mechanisms of Understory Vegetation Diversity Patterns in Central and Southern China

Human Disturbance and Geometric Constraints Drive Small Mammal Diversity and Community Structure along an Elevational Gradient in Eastern China

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