Delos Angeles Marjorie D, Radbouchoom Sirilak, Ngarega Boniface K, Lapuz R Sedricke, Schneider Harald
Center for Integrative Conservation and Yunnan Key Laboratory for Conservation of Tropical Rainforests and Asian Elephants, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Menglun, Yunnan, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2025 Mar 3;16:1495796. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1495796. eCollection 2025.
Karst formations are distinguished by their high levels of species diversity and endemism, including ferns and lycophytes. However, the existing data on plant community composition in karst formations remains deficient. Addressing these knowledge gaps is imperative, given the current accelerated rates of species loss, to enhance efforts to conserve biodiversity in these habitats. This study documents and explains patterns of fern and lycophyte species diversity within karst landscapes (KL) and non-karst landscapes (NKL) in the Philippines. Our comprehensive analysis involved aggregating 19,529 occurrence points encompassing 1,024 fern and lycophyte species sourced from field expeditions, voucher records from local herbaria, and online databases. Indices for species richness, weighted endemism, and corrected weighted endemism were then computed across KL and NKL areas to describe spatial diversity and identify fern and lycophyte hotspot areas. Gap analyses were also performed to determine if established protected areas (PAs) were sufficient to cover the identified fern and lycophyte diversity hotspots. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was conducted to determine potential ecological drivers of distribution between KL and NKL areas. The findings reveal that most fern and lycophyte species were recorded to occur in NKL areas, with 995 (97.16%) species identified, while 676 (66.02%) species were documented to occur in KLs, including 29 (2.83%) exclusive to karsts. Identified hotspots for NKL are within mountain ecosystems, which are already under existing legal protection. In contrast, KLs have five areas identified as congruent hotspots but considered gap areas due to their exclusion from current PA boundaries. Existing PAs thus provide less protection to karst habitats and their associated floras. PCA did not reveal any significant environmental predictors, suggesting separation of KL and NKL species distributions, possibly due to lack of high-resolution environment data available for karsts. To facilitate the conservation of fern and lycophyte species in karsts, we propose installing and expanding existing PA boundaries, along with conducting more focused surveys in karst regions to better understand their ecological dynamics.
岩溶地貌以其高水平的物种多样性和特有性而著称，其中包括蕨类植物和石松类植物。然而，关于岩溶地貌中植物群落组成的现有数据仍然不足。鉴于当前物种丧失速度加快，填补这些知识空白对于加强这些栖息地的生物多样性保护工作至关重要。本研究记录并解释了菲律宾岩溶地貌（KL）和非岩溶地貌（NKL）中蕨类植物和石松类植物的物种多样性模式。我们的综合分析涉及汇总19529个出现点，这些出现点涵盖了来自野外考察、当地植物标本馆的凭证记录以及在线数据库的1024种蕨类植物和石松类植物。然后计算KL和NKL区域的物种丰富度、加权特有性和校正加权特有性指数，以描述空间多样性并确定蕨类植物和石松类植物的热点区域。还进行了差距分析，以确定现有保护区（PA）是否足以覆盖已确定的蕨类植物和石松类植物多样性热点。进行主成分分析（PCA）以确定KL和NKL区域之间分布的潜在生态驱动因素。研究结果表明，大多数蕨类植物和石松类植物物种记录在NKL区域，已鉴定出995种（97.16%），而有676种（66.02%）记录在KL中，其中包括29种（2.83%）仅存在于岩溶地区。已确定NKL的热点位于山区生态系统内，这些区域已受到现有法律保护。相比之下，KL有五个区域被确定为一致的热点，但由于被排除在当前PA边界之外而被视为差距区域。因此，现有PA对岩溶栖息地及其相关植物群的保护较少。PCA未揭示任何显著的环境预测因素，这表明KL和NKL物种分布的分离可能是由于缺乏可用于岩溶地区的高分辨率环境数据。为了促进岩溶地区蕨类植物和石松类植物物种的保护，我们建议扩大现有PA边界，并在岩溶地区进行更有针对性的调查，以更好地了解其生态动态。
