Species presence frequency and diversity in different patch types along an altitudinal gradient: Larix chinensis Beissn in Qinling Mountains (China)
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Abstract
Forest communities are mosaic systems composed of patches classified into four different developmental patch types: gap patch (G), building patch (B), mature patch (M) and degenerate patch (D). To study the mechanisms maintaining diversity in subalpine coniferous forests, species presence frequency and diversity in the four distinct patch types (G, B, M and D) of Larix chinensis conifer forests at three altitudinal gradients in the Qinling Mountains were analyzed. Our results were as follows: (1) Different species (or functional groups) had distinct presence frequencie s in the four different patch types along the altitudinal gradient. (2) Some species or functional groups (species groups sharing similar traits and response to environment) only occurred in some specific patches. For seed dispersal, species using wind mainly occurred in G and D, while species using small animals mainly occurred in B and M. (3) Species composition of adjacent patch types was more similar than non-adjacent patch types, based on the lower β diversity index of the former. (4) The maximum numbers of species and two diversity indices (D′ and H′) were found in the middle altitudes. Various gap-forming processes and dispersal limitation may be the two major mechanisms determining species diversity in Larix chinensis coniferous forests at the patch scale.
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2016. Species presence frequency and diversity in different patch types along an altitudinal gradient: Larix chinensis Beissn in Qinling Mountains (China) PeerJ PrePrints 4:e1752v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1752v1note This preprint is not peer-reviewed. You may wish to reference the subsequent peer-reviewed version of this article.
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This is a submission to PeerJ for review.
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Competing Interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Author Contributions
Minyi Huang conceived and designed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Renyan Duan performed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Shixiong Wang reviewed drafts of the paper.
Zhigao Wang analyzed the data.
Weiyi Fan analyzed the data, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Field Study Permissions
The following information was supplied relating to field study approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):
Our field studies were granted permission by the Administrative Office of Taibai Natural Reserve to conduct the research there (permit number (20120810)).
Data Deposition
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Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31570417) and Anhui Provincial National Science Foundation (1608085MC63). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
