Climate-driven environmental filtering determines hump-shaped elevational pattern of seed plant beta diversity in the central Himalayas

doi:10.1016/j.pld.2024.07.011

Plant Diversity ›› 2025, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (02): 264-272.DOI: 10.1016/j.pld.2024.07.011

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Climate-driven environmental filtering determines hump-shaped elevational pattern of seed plant beta diversity in the central Himalayas

Jianchao Liang^a, Zhifeng Ding^a, Ganwen Lie^b, Zhixin Zhou^a, Zhixiang Zhang^c,d, Huijian Hu^a

a. Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510260, China;
b. Guangdong Eco-Engineering Polytechnic, Guangzhou 510520, China;
c. Laboratory of Systematic Evolution and Biogeography of Woody Plants, School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China;
d. Museum of Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China

Received:2024-01-01 Revised:2024-06-23 Online:2025-04-03 Published:2025-03-25
Contact: Jianchao Liang,E-mail:13760813102@163.com;Zhixiang Zhang,E-mail:zxzhang@bjfu.edu.cn;Huijian Hu,E-mail:13570909977@139.com
Supported by:
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 31901109) and Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (grant number 2021A1515110744).

Climate-driven environmental filtering determines hump-shaped elevational pattern of seed plant beta diversity in the central Himalayas

Jianchao Liang^a, Zhifeng Ding^a, Ganwen Lie^b, Zhixin Zhou^a, Zhixiang Zhang^c,d, Huijian Hu^a

a. Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510260, China;
b. Guangdong Eco-Engineering Polytechnic, Guangzhou 510520, China;
c. Laboratory of Systematic Evolution and Biogeography of Woody Plants, School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China;
d. Museum of Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China

通讯作者: Jianchao Liang,E-mail:13760813102@163.com;Zhixiang Zhang,E-mail:zxzhang@bjfu.edu.cn;Huijian Hu,E-mail:13570909977@139.com
基金资助:
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 31901109) and Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (grant number 2021A1515110744).

Abstract

Abstract: Understanding how and why assemblage dissimilarity changes along spatial gradient is a great challenge in ecology, because answers to these questions depend on the analytical types, dimensions, and components of beta diversity we concerned. To obtain a comprehensive understanding of assemblage dissimilarity and its implications for biodiversity conservation in the Himalayas, we explored the elevational patterns and determinants of beta diversity and its turnover and nestedness components of pairwise and multiple types and taxonomic and phylogenetic dimensions simultaneously. Patterns of beta diversity and their components of different types and dimensions were calculated based on 96 sampling quadrats along an 1800-5400 m elevational gradient. We examined whether and how these patterns differed from random expectations using null models. Furthermore, we used random forest methods to quantify the role of environmental variables representing climate, topography, and human disturbance in determining these patterns. We found that beta diversity and its turnover component, regardless of its types and dimensions, shown a hump-shaped elevational patterns. Both pairwise and multiple phylogenetic beta diversity were remarkably lower than their taxonomic counterpart. These patterns were significantly less than random expectation and were mostly associated with climate variables. In summary, our results suggested that assemblage dissimilarity of seed plants was mostly originate from the replacement of closely related species determined by climate-driven environmental filtering. Accordingly, conservation efforts should better cover elevations with different climate types to maximalize biodiversity conservation, rather than only focus on elevations with highest species richness. Our study demonstrated that comparisons of beta diversity of different types, dimensions, and components could be conductive to consensus on the origin and mechanism of assemblage dissimilarity.

Key words: Beta diversity, Phylogenetic diversity, Assembly process, Elevational gradient, Environmental filtering, Himalayas

摘要： Understanding how and why assemblage dissimilarity changes along spatial gradient is a great challenge in ecology, because answers to these questions depend on the analytical types, dimensions, and components of beta diversity we concerned. To obtain a comprehensive understanding of assemblage dissimilarity and its implications for biodiversity conservation in the Himalayas, we explored the elevational patterns and determinants of beta diversity and its turnover and nestedness components of pairwise and multiple types and taxonomic and phylogenetic dimensions simultaneously. Patterns of beta diversity and their components of different types and dimensions were calculated based on 96 sampling quadrats along an 1800-5400 m elevational gradient. We examined whether and how these patterns differed from random expectations using null models. Furthermore, we used random forest methods to quantify the role of environmental variables representing climate, topography, and human disturbance in determining these patterns. We found that beta diversity and its turnover component, regardless of its types and dimensions, shown a hump-shaped elevational patterns. Both pairwise and multiple phylogenetic beta diversity were remarkably lower than their taxonomic counterpart. These patterns were significantly less than random expectation and were mostly associated with climate variables. In summary, our results suggested that assemblage dissimilarity of seed plants was mostly originate from the replacement of closely related species determined by climate-driven environmental filtering. Accordingly, conservation efforts should better cover elevations with different climate types to maximalize biodiversity conservation, rather than only focus on elevations with highest species richness. Our study demonstrated that comparisons of beta diversity of different types, dimensions, and components could be conductive to consensus on the origin and mechanism of assemblage dissimilarity.

关键词: Beta diversity, Phylogenetic diversity, Assembly process, Elevational gradient, Environmental filtering, Himalayas

Jianchao Liang, Zhifeng Ding, Ganwen Lie, Zhixin Zhou, Zhixiang Zhang, Huijian Hu. Climate-driven environmental filtering determines hump-shaped elevational pattern of seed plant beta diversity in the central Himalayas[J]. Plant Diversity, 2025, 47(02): 264-272.

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Climate-driven environmental filtering determines hump-shaped elevational pattern of seed plant beta diversity in the central Himalayas

Climate-driven environmental filtering determines hump-shaped elevational pattern of seed plant beta diversity in the central Himalayas

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