Separation of phylogeny and ecological behaviors between evergreen and deciduous woody angiosperms in the subtropical forest dynamics plots of China

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2020.0174

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Evergreen (EBL) and deciduous broad-leaved (DBL) woody angiosperms are two major plant groups in the subtropical broad-leaved forests of eastern Asia. Exploring the separation between these two groups in ecological niche, will shed light on the biodiversity maintenance mechanisms of subtropical broad-leaved forests.
Methods Adopting statistical methods including the linear regression model and the multiple regression method of Mantel test, we compared the phylogeny and ecological behaviors of the two plant groups in eight forest dynamics plots in China.
Important findings We found that (1) leaf habit, be either EBL or DBL, was phylogenetically conserved in the 788 study angiosperm taxa. EBLs and DBLs differed in ecological behaviors towards light, temperature, water, soil reaction and soil fertility. EBLs prefer low light and soil pH, high temperature, water and soil fertility; while the opposite was true for DBLs. (2) Within plot, DBLs were more clustered in phylogenetic dispersion, but more overdispersed in ecological behavior, compared with EBLs; similarly, between plots, DBLs were less diverse in phylogenetic composition, but more diverse in ecological behaviors, than EBLs. On the other hand, divergence in phylogenetic composition of DBLs between plots increased with difference in mean annual temperature (MAT). Further, we found that (3) the ratio of DBLs to EBLs in species richness decreased with MAT increased, but not with dry season length or annual precipitation. The findings show that EBLs and DBLs of the eight study plots differ in both phylogeny and ecological behaviors, and imply that niche separation may be a major mechanism that maintains the biodiversity of subtropical broad-leaved forests.

Key words: leaf habit, ecological niche, biodiversity, subtropical forest, Chinese Forest Biodiversity Monitoring Network

CHE Jian, ZHENG Jie, JIANG Ya, JIN Yi, YI Yin. Separation of phylogeny and ecological behaviors between evergreen and deciduous woody angiosperms in the subtropical forest dynamics plots of China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2020, 44(10): 1007-1014.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2020.0174

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2020/V44/I10/1007

Figures/Tables 5

Fig. 1 Difference in each ecological behavior between evergreen and deciduous plants (mean ± SE). D, deciduous woody angiosperms; E, evergreen woody angiosperms. Different letters above the bars indicate significant difference (p < 0.05). p-value is estimated by the phylogenetic linear regression model (Supplement II).

Fig. 2 Phylogenetic (A) and ecological behavior dispersions (B) of evergreen and deciduous plants of the eight plots. D, deciduous woody angiosperms; E, evergreen woody angiosperms. NRI, net relatedness index; NFRI, net functional relatedness index. Different lowercase letters above the boxes indicate significant difference (p < 0.05, Wilcoxon signed- rank test with p-value adjusted by false discovery rate).

Fig. 3 Phylogenetic (A) and ecological behavior compositional differences (B) of evergreen and deciduous woody angiosperms of the eight plots. D, deciduous woody angiosperms; E, evergreen woody angiosperms. Different letters above the boxes indicate significant difference (p < 0.05, Wilcoxon signed-rank test with p-value adjusted by false discovery rate). βNRI, inter-sample net relatedness index; βNFRI, inter-sample net functional relatedness index.

Table 1 Results of the multiple regression method of Mantel test of net relatedness index among samples (βNRI) and net functional relatedness index among samples (βNFRI) of deciduous and evergreen woody angiosperms among the eight forest plots

影响因子	落叶木本被子植物 D		常绿木本被子植物 E
Predictor variable	βNRI	βNFRI	βNRI	βNFRI
样地面积 A	0.225	0.303	0.063	0.716
岛屿 I	0.211	0.783	-0.617	2.154
年降水量 AP	0.156	0.574	0.425	-0.465
旱季时间 DS	0.090	0.168	-0.035	0.667
年平均气温 MAT	-0.222^*	-0.217	-0.018	-0.332

Fig. 4 Variation in the ratio of deciduous: evergreen woody angiosperm richness with mean annual temperature. MAT, mean annual temperature; D:E, the ratio of deciduous and evergreen woody angiosperms in species richness. BDGS, Badagongshan; BSZ, Baishanzu; DHS, Dinghushan; FS, Fushan; GTS, Gutianshan; HSD, Heishiding; LHC, Lienhuachi; TT, Tiantong. Each soild black circle represents a plot, the dark grey line represents the mean of deciduous: evergreen plants richness ratio, and the grey area represents 95% confidence interval of the mean, as fitted by the best supported linear regression model (Supplement III). Adjusted r-square of the linear regression model is R2adj = 0.707.

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