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Alpha, Beta and Gamma Diversity Differ in Response to Precipitation in the Inner Mongolia Grassland

Understanding the distribution pattern and maintenance mechanism of species diversity along environmental gradients is essential for developing biodiversity conservation strategies under environmental change. We have surveyed the species diversity at 192 vegetation sites across different steppe zone...

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Autores principales: Zhang, Qing, Hou, Xiangyang, Li, Frank Yonghong, Niu, Jianming, Zhou, Yanlin, Ding, Yong, Zhao, Liqing, Li, Xin, Ma, Wenjing, Kang, Sarula
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3968148/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24675900
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093518
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author Zhang, Qing
Hou, Xiangyang
Li, Frank Yonghong
Niu, Jianming
Zhou, Yanlin
Ding, Yong
Zhao, Liqing
Li, Xin
Ma, Wenjing
Kang, Sarula
author_facet Zhang, Qing
Hou, Xiangyang
Li, Frank Yonghong
Niu, Jianming
Zhou, Yanlin
Ding, Yong
Zhao, Liqing
Li, Xin
Ma, Wenjing
Kang, Sarula
author_sort Zhang, Qing
collection PubMed
description Understanding the distribution pattern and maintenance mechanism of species diversity along environmental gradients is essential for developing biodiversity conservation strategies under environmental change. We have surveyed the species diversity at 192 vegetation sites across different steppe zones in Inner Mongolia, China. We analysed the total species diversity (γ diversity) and its composition (α diversity and β diversity) of different steppe types, and their changes along a precipitation gradient. Our results showed that (i) β diversity contributed more than α diversity to the total (γ) diversity in the Inner Mongolia grassland; the contribution of β diversity increased with precipitation, thus the species-rich (meadow steppe) grassland had greater contribution of β diversity than species-poor (desert steppe) grassland. (ii) All α, β and γ species diversity increased significantly (P<0.05) with precipitation, but their sensitivity to precipitation (diversity change per mm precipitation increase) was different between the steppe types. The sensitivity of α diversity of different steppe community types was negatively (P<0.05) correlated with mean annual precipitation, whereas the sensitivity of β and γ diversity showed no trend along the precipitation gradient (P>0.10). (iii) The α diversity increased logarithmically, while β diversity increased exponentially, with γ diversity. Our results suggest that for local species diversity patterns, the site species pool is more important in lower precipitation areas, while local ecological processes are more important in high precipitation areas. In addition, for β diversity maintenance niche processes and diffusion processes are more important in low and high precipitation areas, respectively. Our results imply that a policy of “multiple small reserves” is better than one of a “single large reserve” for conserving species diversity of a steppe ecosystem, and indicate an urgent need to develop management strategies for climate-sensitive desert steppe ecosystem.
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spelling pubmed-39681482014-04-01 Alpha, Beta and Gamma Diversity Differ in Response to Precipitation in the Inner Mongolia Grassland Zhang, Qing Hou, Xiangyang Li, Frank Yonghong Niu, Jianming Zhou, Yanlin Ding, Yong Zhao, Liqing Li, Xin Ma, Wenjing Kang, Sarula PLoS One Research Article Understanding the distribution pattern and maintenance mechanism of species diversity along environmental gradients is essential for developing biodiversity conservation strategies under environmental change. We have surveyed the species diversity at 192 vegetation sites across different steppe zones in Inner Mongolia, China. We analysed the total species diversity (γ diversity) and its composition (α diversity and β diversity) of different steppe types, and their changes along a precipitation gradient. Our results showed that (i) β diversity contributed more than α diversity to the total (γ) diversity in the Inner Mongolia grassland; the contribution of β diversity increased with precipitation, thus the species-rich (meadow steppe) grassland had greater contribution of β diversity than species-poor (desert steppe) grassland. (ii) All α, β and γ species diversity increased significantly (P<0.05) with precipitation, but their sensitivity to precipitation (diversity change per mm precipitation increase) was different between the steppe types. The sensitivity of α diversity of different steppe community types was negatively (P<0.05) correlated with mean annual precipitation, whereas the sensitivity of β and γ diversity showed no trend along the precipitation gradient (P>0.10). (iii) The α diversity increased logarithmically, while β diversity increased exponentially, with γ diversity. Our results suggest that for local species diversity patterns, the site species pool is more important in lower precipitation areas, while local ecological processes are more important in high precipitation areas. In addition, for β diversity maintenance niche processes and diffusion processes are more important in low and high precipitation areas, respectively. Our results imply that a policy of “multiple small reserves” is better than one of a “single large reserve” for conserving species diversity of a steppe ecosystem, and indicate an urgent need to develop management strategies for climate-sensitive desert steppe ecosystem. Public Library of Science 2014-03-27 /pmc/articles/PMC3968148/ /pubmed/24675900 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093518 Text en © 2014 Zhang et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Zhang, Qing
Hou, Xiangyang
Li, Frank Yonghong
Niu, Jianming
Zhou, Yanlin
Ding, Yong
Zhao, Liqing
Li, Xin
Ma, Wenjing
Kang, Sarula
Alpha, Beta and Gamma Diversity Differ in Response to Precipitation in the Inner Mongolia Grassland
title Alpha, Beta and Gamma Diversity Differ in Response to Precipitation in the Inner Mongolia Grassland
title_full Alpha, Beta and Gamma Diversity Differ in Response to Precipitation in the Inner Mongolia Grassland
title_fullStr Alpha, Beta and Gamma Diversity Differ in Response to Precipitation in the Inner Mongolia Grassland
title_full_unstemmed Alpha, Beta and Gamma Diversity Differ in Response to Precipitation in the Inner Mongolia Grassland
title_short Alpha, Beta and Gamma Diversity Differ in Response to Precipitation in the Inner Mongolia Grassland
title_sort alpha, beta and gamma diversity differ in response to precipitation in the inner mongolia grassland
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3968148/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24675900
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093518
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