South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Sci Rep. 2018 Jan 19;8(1):1232. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-19686-3.
Ecological differences may be related to community component divisions between Oriental (west) and Sino-Japanese (east) realms, and such differences may result in weak geographical breaks in migratory species that are highly mobile. Here, we conducted comparative phylogenetic and functional structure analyses of wintering waterbird communities in southern China across two realms and subsequently examined possible climate drivers of the observed patterns. An analysis based on such highly migratory species is particularly telling because migration is bound to reduce or completely eliminate any divergence between communities. Phylogenetic and functional structure of eastern communities showed over-dispersion while western communities were clustered. Basal phylogenetic and functional turnover of western communities was significant lower than that of eastern communities. The break between eastern and western communities was masked by these two realms. Geographic patterns were related to mean temperature changes and temperature fluctuations, suggesting that temperature may filter waterbird lineages and traits, thus underlying geographical community divisions. These results suggest phylogenetic and functional divisions in southern China, coinciding with biogeography. This study shows that temperature fluctuations constitute an essential mechanism shaping geographical divisions that have largely gone undetected previously, even under climate change.
生态差异可能与东洋（西）和中日（东）领域之间的群落组成划分有关，这种差异可能导致高度移动的迁徙物种的地理间断较弱。在这里，我们对中国南方两个领域的越冬水鸟群落进行了比较系统发育和功能结构分析，随后研究了观察到的模式的可能气候驱动因素。对这种高度迁徙物种的分析特别有意义，因为迁徙势必会减少或完全消除群落之间的任何差异。东部群落的系统发育和功能结构表现出过度离散，而西部群落则呈聚类状。西部群落的基础系统发育和功能周转率明显低于东部群落。这两个领域掩盖了东部和西部群落之间的差异。地理格局与平均温度变化和温度波动有关，这表明温度可能会筛选水鸟的谱系和特征，从而形成地理上的群落划分。这些结果表明，中国南方存在系统发育和功能上的划分，与生物地理学一致。本研究表明，温度波动是形成地理划分的一个重要机制，即使在气候变化下，这种机制在很大程度上也未被发现。
