State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
J Integr Plant Biol. 2022 Nov;64(11):2126-2134. doi: 10.1111/jipb.13361. Epub 2022 Oct 11.
The dominant species of a biome can be regarded as its genuine indicator. Evergreen broadleaved forests (EBLFs) in subtropical East Asia harbor high levels of species biodiversity and endemism and are vital to regional carbon storage and cycling. However, the historical assembly of this unique biome is still controversial. Fagaceae is the most essential family in East Asian subtropical EBLFs and its dominant species are vital for the existence of this biome. Here, we used the dominant Fagaceae species to shed light on the dynamic process of East Asian subtropical EBLFs over time. Our results indicate high precipitation in summer and low temperature in winter are the most influential climatic factors for the distribution of East Asian subtropical EBLFs. Modern East Asian subtropical EBLFs did not begin to appear until 23 Ma, subsequently experienced a long-lasting development in the Miocene and markedly deteriorated at about 4 Ma, driven jointly by orogenesis and paleoclimate. We also document that there is a lag time between when one clade invaded the region and when its members become dominant species within the region. This study may improve our ability to predict and mitigate the threats to biodiversity of East Asian subtropical EBLFs and points to a new path for future studies involving multidisciplinary methods to explore the assembly of regional biomes.
优势物种可以被视为生物群落的真正指示物种。东亚亚热带常绿阔叶林(EBLFs)具有丰富的物种多样性和特有性，对区域碳储存和循环至关重要。然而，这种独特生物群落的历史形成仍然存在争议。壳斗科是东亚亚热带 EBLFs 中最重要的科，其优势物种对该生物群落的存在至关重要。在这里，我们使用优势壳斗科物种来阐明东亚亚热带 EBLFs 随时间推移的动态过程。我们的结果表明，夏季高降水和冬季低温是影响东亚亚热带 EBLFs 分布的最主要气候因素。现代东亚亚热带 EBLFs 直到 2300 万年前才开始出现，随后在中新世经历了长时间的发展，并在大约 400 万年前由于造山运动和古气候的共同作用而显著恶化。我们还记录到，一个分支侵入该地区与该地区的成员成为优势物种之间存在时间滞后。这项研究可以提高我们预测和减轻东亚亚热带 EBLFs 生物多样性威胁的能力，并为未来涉及多学科方法探索区域生物群落组装的研究指明了新的方向。
