Species diversity of communities based on different vegetation organizational scales in China’s Malan forest region

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1258.2011.00017

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Patterns of species diversity are closely related to vegetation organizational scales. Our aims were to analyze the relationship between species diversity and vegetation organizational scales and discuss its internal mechanism, which may help us better understand the general law of species diversity.
Methods We investigated 208 10 m × 10 m representative quadrats in the Malan forest region on China’s Loess Plateau. Each plot had five 2 m × 2 m subplots for shrubs and five 1 m × 1 m subplots for herbs. We recorded height and diameter at breast height (DBH) of trees and height and cover of shrubs and herbs. We determined communities and their relationships with Two Way Indicator Species Analysis (TWINSPAN) and Principal Components Analysis (PCA). Based on species richness, Shannon-Wiener and Simpson diversity indices, the relationship between species diversity and vegetation organizational scales was analyzed using the additive partition approach.
Important findings For the four components constituting regional diversity (α_1, β_1, β₂ and β₃) ― no matter if diversity was measured as species richness, Shannon-Wiener or Simpson indices ― within-association diversity always contributed the most to regional diversity in tree, shrub and herb layers (except species richness in the herb layer), indicating that it was the most appropriate scale for measuring species diversity. The proportion of Shannon-Wiener diversity at the vegetation type, formation or association scales was higher than the proportion measured by Simpson diversity, which resulted from the distribution pattern of rare species on each scale. Differences among the orders of β diversity components were observed in scales of between-vegetation type, between-formation and between-association, which were mainly correlated with tree, shrub and herb layers’ species composition and distribution in the region, as well as environmental heterogeneity among different scales.

Key words: additive partitioning, Loess Plateau, Principal Components Analysis (PCA), species diversity, vegetation organizational scale

WEI Li-Ping, WANG Xiao-An, WANG Shi-Xiong, ZHU Zhi-Hong, GUO Hua, SUN Jia-Nan, HAO Jiang-Bo. Species diversity of communities based on different vegetation organizational scales in China’s Malan forest region[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2011, 35(1): 17-26.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.3724/SP.J.1258.2011.00017

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2011/V35/I1/17

Figures/Tables 7

Fig. 1 Relationships between community species diversity and vegetation organizational scales in Malan forest region based on the additive partitioning approach.

Table 1 Observed and expected value of α, β and γ diversity on three organizational scales: association scale, formation scale and vegetation type scale, using species richness as indicators

多样性 Diversity	乔木 Tree		灌木 Shrub		草本植物 Herb
多样性 Diversity	OBS	EXP	OBS	EXP	OBS	EXP
α₁	14.4	27.2	52.3	100.2	40.5	110.5
β₁	10.5	10.6	30.9	23.5	32.1	26.5
β₂	8.9	4.4	21.3	7.8	34.5	8.2
β₃	13.2	4.8	36.5	9.4	46.9	8.9
γ	47.0	47.0	141.0	140.9	154.0	154.1

Fig. 2 Vegetation classification in Malan forest region. The quantity of quadrat in different association is 12, 14, 15, 9, 26, 28, 18, 13, 16, 10, 10, 9, 8, 11 and 9, from left to right.

Fig. 3 Principal Components Analysis (PCA) ordination graph of the community at different organizational scales. I, Tree layer. II, Shrub layer. III, Herb layer. A, temperate coniferous forest; B, deciduous broadleaved forest; C, temperate coniferous-broadleaved mixed forest; A1, Form. Pinus tabulaeformis; B1, Form. Quercus liaotungensis; B2, Form. Betula platyphylla; B3, Form. Quercus liaotungensis + Betula platyphylla; C1, Form. Pinus tabulaeformis + Quercus liaotungensis; A1-1, Ass. Pinus tabulaeformis-Spi- raea pubescens; A1-2, Ass. Pinus tabulaeformis-Lespedeza bicolor; A1-3, Ass. Pinus tabulaeformis-Cotoneaster multiflorus; A1-4, Ass. Pinus tabulaeformis-Celastrus orbiculatus; B1-1, Ass. Quercus liaotungensis-Spiraea pubescens; B1-2, Ass. Quercus liaotungensis-Lespedeza bicolor; B1-3, Ass. Quercus liaotungensis-Cotoneaster multiflorus; B1-4, Ass. Quercus liaotungensis-Ostryopsis davidiana; B2-1, Ass. Betula platyphylla-Spiraea pubescens; B2-2, Ass. Betula platyphylla-Cotoneaster multiflorus; B2-3, Ass. Betula platyphylla-Ostryopsis davidiana; B3-1, Ass. Quercus liaotungensis + Betula platyphylla-Spiraea pubescens; B3-2, Ass. Quercus liaotungensis + Betula platyphylla-Cotoneaster multiflorus; C1-1, Ass. Pinus tabulaeformis + Quercus liaotungensis- Spiraea pubescens; C1-2, Ass. Pinus tabulaeformis + Quercus liaotungensis-Lespedeza bicolor.

Fig. 4 Proportion of tree, shrub and herb layer’s α, β and γ diversity components on three organizational scales: association, formation and vegetation type scale, using species richness (I), Shannon-Wiener diversity (II), and Simpson diversity (III) as indicators.

Table 2 Observed and expected values of α, β and γ diversity on three organizational scales: association scale, formation scale and vegetation type scale, using Shannon-Wiener diversity as indicators

多样性 Diversity	乔木 Tree		灌木 Shrub		草本植物 Herb
多样性 Diversity	OBS	EXP	OBS	EXP	OBS	EXP
α₁	0.964	1.639	3.164	3.641	2.560	3.104
β₁	0.041	0.010	0.280	0.034	0.281	0.037
β₂	0.248	0.002	0.107	0.007	0.119	0.008
β₃	0.400	0.002	0.138	0.007	0.197	0.008
γ	1.653	1.653	3.689	3.689	3.157	3.157

Table 3 Observed and expected values of α, β and γ diversity components on three organizational scales: association scale, formation scale and vegetation type scale, using Simpson diversity as indicators

多样性 Diversity	乔木 Tree		灌木 Shrub		草本植物 Herb
多样性 Diversity	OBS	EXP	OBS	EXP	OBS	EXP
α₁	0.403 1	0.714 9	0.922 7	0.953 1	0.838 7	0.876 0
β₁	0.001 3	0.000 1	0.022 3	0.000 4	0.023 0	0.000 3
β₂	0.138 6	0.000 0	0.004 0	0.000 1	0.004 1	0.000 1
β₃	0.172 0	0.000 0	0.004 8	0.000 1	0.010 6	0.000 1
γ	0.715 0	0.715 0	0.953 8	0.953 7	0.876 4	0.876 5

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