Scale-dependent spatial patterns of species diversity in the tropical montane rain forest in Jianfengling, Hainan Island, China

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2015.0400

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Spatial distribution patterns and formation mechanisms of species diversity are fundamental issues in community ecology. The objectives of this study are to assess the species diversity patterns at the different spatial scales in Jianfengling, Hainan Island, China.
Methods Based on the dataset from the 60 hm²plot in the tropical montane rain forest in Jianfengling, Hainan Island, the spatial distribution patterns of species richness, species abundance, Shannon-Wiener, Simpson and Pielou’s evenness indices were analyzed at six spatial scales, including 5 m × 5 m, 10 m × 10 m, 20 m × 20 m, 40 m × 40 m, 100 m × 100 m, and 200 m × 200 m, respectively.Important findings
Results showed that spatial distribution patterns of species richness, species abundance and Shannon-Wiener index were much more obviously changed with the spatial scales than Simpson and Pielou’s evenness indices. Change of variance of the species richness with the increase of spatial scales was unimodal, which had the maximum value at the 20 m × 20 m scale. Variance of the species abundance showed a linear relationship with the increase of spatial scales. The positive relationship between species richness and abundance gradually decreased and even disappeared with the increase of sampling scales, which may be correlated with the increase of habitat heterogeneity. The effects of spatial scales on Shannon-Wiener, Simpson, and Pielou’s evenness indices may be also correlated with the composition of rare species in the plot.

http://jtp.cnki.net/bilingual/detail/html/ZWSB201609001

Key words: Hainan, Jianfengling, tropical montane rain forest, species diversity, sampling scale, spatial distribution patterns

Yan-Peng LI, Han XU, Yi-De LI, Tu-Shou LUO, De-Xiang CHEN, Zhang ZHOU, Ming-Xian LIN, Huai YANG. Scale-dependent spatial patterns of species diversity in the tropical montane rain forest in Jianfengling, Hainan Island, China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2016, 40(9): 861-870.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2015.0400

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2016/V40/I9/861

Figures/Tables 7

Fig. 1 Topography of the 60 hm2 Jianfengling Forest Dynamics Plot on Hainan Island.

Fig. 2 Spatial distribution patterns of species richness (A-F) and abundance (G-L) at different scales. The sidebars represented the values of species richness or abundance at different plots, respectively.

Table 1 Spearman rank correlation coefficients between species richness and abundance at different spatial scales

取样尺度 Sampling scales	5 m × 5 m	10 m × 10 m	20 m × 20 m	40 m × 40 m	100 m × 100 m	200 m × 200 m
相关系数 Correlation coefficients	0.917	0.873	0.735	0.319	-0.024	0.300
样方数 Number of quadrats	24 000	6 000	1 500	375	60	15
p	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.856	0.277

Fig. 3 Spatial distribution patterns of Shannon-Wiener (A-F) and Simpson indices (G-L) at different scales. The sidebars represented the values of Shannon-Wiener or Simpson indices at different plots, respectively.

Fig. 4 Spatial distribution patterns of Pielou’s evenness index at different scales. The sidebars represented the values of Pielou’s evenness index at different plots.

Fig. 5 Spatial variation of species richness (A, B) and abundance (C, D) at different scales.

Fig. 6 Spatial variation of Shannon-Wiener (A, B), Simpson (C, D) and Pielou’s evenness indices (E, F) at different scales.

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