Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2019, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (9): 825-833.DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2018.0162

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Distribution and species diversity patterns of Vitex negundo var. heterophylla shrublands in North China

TANG Li-Li1,YANG Tong1,LIU Hong-Yan2,KANG Mu-Yi3,4,WANG Ren-Qing5,ZHANG Feng6,GAO Xian-Ming7,YUE Ming8,ZHANG Mei1,ZHENG Pu-Fan1,SHI Fu-Chen1,*()   

  1. 1College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
    2Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
    3State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
    4College of Resources Science & Technology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
    5School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
    6Institute of Loess Plateau, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China
    7State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academic of Science, Beijing 100093, China
    8Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi’an 710069, China
  • Received:2018-07-07 Accepted:2018-10-29 Online:2019-09-20 Published:2020-01-03
  • Contact: SHI Fu-Chen
  • Supported by:
    Supported by the National Basic work of Science and Technology of China(2011FY110300);the Special Fund for the Industrial System Construction of Modern Agriculture of Tianjin, China(ITTFPRS2018001);and the Program of Science and Technology Commission Foundation of Tianjin, China(18ZXZYNC00120)

Abstract:

Aims To explore the factors controlling the spatial distribution, as well as the species diversity, of the Vitex negundo var. heterophylla shrublands in North China.
Methods We investigated the species composition and environments for 370 shrubland plots of Vitex negundo var. heterophylla shrublands in North China. We calculated biodiversity indices (Shannon-Wiener index, Simpson index and Pielou’s evenness index) and then applied multivariate regression trees (MRT), analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation analysis to disentangle distribution of the Vitex negundo var. heterophylla community and patterns of species diversity along both horizontal and elevational gradients.
Important findings The results showed that Vitex negundo var. heterophylla shrublands distributed in a large area stretching for more than 10° of both latitude and longitude, together with an elevational range of more than 1 000 m (117 m to 1 248 m). The Shannon-Wiener index, Simpson index and Pielou’s evenness index were higher in the herbaceous layer than those in the shrub layers. The species diversity of shrub layer increased with latitude but decreased with elevation. In contrast, that of the herbaceous layer decreased with latitude but increased with elevation. The Shannon-Wiener indexes of both layers were significantly correlated with environmental factors. The results of Pearson correlation analysis indicated that the Shannon-Wiener indexes of shrub layer had a significantly negative relationship with its temperature and slope position, and a significantly positive relationship with its precipitation. However, that of herb layer showed opposite trends.

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Key words: Vitex negundo var. heterophylla shrubland, species diversity index, spatial pattern, plant community