Long Qingzhi, Zhan Zhili, Du Hu, Peng Wanxia, Su Liang, Zhang Hao, Zeng Zhaoxia, Zeng Fuping, Tan Weining, Mo Youwang, Deng Xichao, Xie Yanjun, Wang Kelin
Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, Hunan, China.
College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2025 Aug 28;16:1655071. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1655071. eCollection 2025.
Community assembly involves species forming communities through interactions and environmental adaptation, with traits and phylogeny playing key roles. Analyzing these factors is crucial for understanding community assembly and improving ecological restoration and biodiversity conservation, especially in karst ecosystems, where research is limited.
Here, we evaluated six metrics of taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity in a subtropical climax forest, and then derived the relative contribution of environmental and spatial conditions on the diversity metrics.
The results indicated that, except for the mean pairwise distance (MPD) index, all other indices exhibited a higher spatial distribution pattern on slopes compared to depressions. The MPD index, however, displayed a more homogeneous pattern, with no significant differences observed across terrains. Our findings suggest that topography has a stronger and more consistent influence on species, functional, and phylogenetic diversity than soil factors. Among these, phylogenetic diversity showed the most pronounced response to topographic variation (especially elevation, slope, and terrain wetness index), indicating that evolutionary lineage distribution is more sensitive to terrain changes than functional or species diversity. In addition, species diversity was most affected by dispersal limitation among the three types of diversity, suggesting that significant spatial variation in community composition is largely constrained by the dispersal ability of species. In contrast, phylogenetic diversity was most affected by environmental filtering, highlighting the strong selective effect of environmental conditions on community phylogeny. Functional diversity, on the other hand, showed a smaller degree of response to both filtering and dispersal, with dispersal limitation having a higher impact than environmental filtering.
This study reveals the spatial pattern of karst plant diversity in southwest China and its influencing factors, as well as the mechanism of community construction, providing a theoretical foundation and scientific basis for biodiversity conservation and vegetation restoration in karst areas.
群落构建涉及物种通过相互作用和环境适应形成群落，其中性状和系统发育起着关键作用。分析这些因素对于理解群落构建以及改善生态恢复和生物多样性保护至关重要，特别是在研究有限的喀斯特生态系统中。
在此，我们评估了亚热带顶极森林中分类、系统发育和功能多样性的六个指标，然后推导了环境和空间条件对多样性指标的相对贡献。
结果表明，除平均成对距离（MPD）指数外，与洼地相比，所有其他指数在斜坡上呈现出更高的空间分布格局。然而，MPD指数显示出更均匀的格局，不同地形之间未观察到显著差异。我们的研究结果表明，地形对物种、功能和系统发育多样性的影响比土壤因素更强且更一致。其中，系统发育多样性对地形变化（特别是海拔、坡度和地形湿度指数）的响应最为明显，表明进化谱系分布对地形变化比功能或物种多样性更敏感。此外，在三种类型的多样性中，物种多样性受扩散限制的影响最大，这表明群落组成的显著空间变异在很大程度上受到物种扩散能力的限制。相比之下，系统发育多样性受环境过滤的影响最大，突出了环境条件对群落系统发育的强烈选择作用。另一方面，功能多样性对过滤和扩散的响应程度较小，扩散限制的影响高于环境过滤。
本研究揭示了中国西南喀斯特植物多样性的空间格局及其影响因素，以及群落构建机制，为喀斯特地区生物多样性保护和植被恢复提供了理论基础和科学依据。
