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Biogeographical Interpretation of Elevational Patterns of Genus Diversity of Seed Plants in Nepal

This study tests if the biogeographical affinities of genera are relevant for explaining elevational plant diversity patterns in Nepal. We used simultaneous autoregressive (SAR) models to investigate the explanatory power of several predictors in explaining the diversity-elevation relationships show...

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Autores principales: Li, Miao, Feng, Jianmeng
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4619261/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26488164
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140992
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author Li, Miao
Feng, Jianmeng
author_facet Li, Miao
Feng, Jianmeng
author_sort Li, Miao
collection PubMed
description This study tests if the biogeographical affinities of genera are relevant for explaining elevational plant diversity patterns in Nepal. We used simultaneous autoregressive (SAR) models to investigate the explanatory power of several predictors in explaining the diversity-elevation relationships shown in genera with different biogeographical affinities. Delta akaike information criterion (ΔAIC) was used for multi-model inferences and selections. Our results showed that both the total and tropical genus diversity peaked below the mid-point of the elevational gradient, whereas that of temperate genera had a nearly symmetrical, unimodal relationship with elevation. The proportion of temperate genera increased markedly with elevation, while that of tropical genera declined. Compared to tropical genera, temperate genera had wider elevational ranges and were observed at higher elevations. Water-related variables, rather than mid-domain effects (MDE), were the most significant predictors of elevational patterns of tropical genus diversity. The temperate genus diversity was influenced by energy availability, but only in quadratic terms of the models. Though climatic factors and mid-domain effects jointly explained most of the variation in the diversity of temperate genera with elevation, the former played stronger roles. Total genus diversity was most strongly influenced by climate and the floristic overlap of tropical and temperate floras, while the influences of mid-domain effects were relatively weak. The influences of water-related and energy-related variables may vary with biogeographical affinities. The elevational patterns may be most closely related to climatic factors, while MDE may somewhat modify the patterns. Caution is needed when investigating the causal factors underlying diversity patterns for large taxonomic groups composed of taxa of different biogeographical affinities. Right-skewed diversity-elevation patterns may be produced by the differential response of taxa with varying biogeographical affinities to climatic factors and MDE.
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spelling pubmed-46192612015-10-29 Biogeographical Interpretation of Elevational Patterns of Genus Diversity of Seed Plants in Nepal Li, Miao Feng, Jianmeng PLoS One Research Article This study tests if the biogeographical affinities of genera are relevant for explaining elevational plant diversity patterns in Nepal. We used simultaneous autoregressive (SAR) models to investigate the explanatory power of several predictors in explaining the diversity-elevation relationships shown in genera with different biogeographical affinities. Delta akaike information criterion (ΔAIC) was used for multi-model inferences and selections. Our results showed that both the total and tropical genus diversity peaked below the mid-point of the elevational gradient, whereas that of temperate genera had a nearly symmetrical, unimodal relationship with elevation. The proportion of temperate genera increased markedly with elevation, while that of tropical genera declined. Compared to tropical genera, temperate genera had wider elevational ranges and were observed at higher elevations. Water-related variables, rather than mid-domain effects (MDE), were the most significant predictors of elevational patterns of tropical genus diversity. The temperate genus diversity was influenced by energy availability, but only in quadratic terms of the models. Though climatic factors and mid-domain effects jointly explained most of the variation in the diversity of temperate genera with elevation, the former played stronger roles. Total genus diversity was most strongly influenced by climate and the floristic overlap of tropical and temperate floras, while the influences of mid-domain effects were relatively weak. The influences of water-related and energy-related variables may vary with biogeographical affinities. The elevational patterns may be most closely related to climatic factors, while MDE may somewhat modify the patterns. Caution is needed when investigating the causal factors underlying diversity patterns for large taxonomic groups composed of taxa of different biogeographical affinities. Right-skewed diversity-elevation patterns may be produced by the differential response of taxa with varying biogeographical affinities to climatic factors and MDE. Public Library of Science 2015-10-21 /pmc/articles/PMC4619261/ /pubmed/26488164 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140992 Text en © 2015 Li, Feng 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
Li, Miao
Feng, Jianmeng
Biogeographical Interpretation of Elevational Patterns of Genus Diversity of Seed Plants in Nepal
title Biogeographical Interpretation of Elevational Patterns of Genus Diversity of Seed Plants in Nepal
title_full Biogeographical Interpretation of Elevational Patterns of Genus Diversity of Seed Plants in Nepal
title_fullStr Biogeographical Interpretation of Elevational Patterns of Genus Diversity of Seed Plants in Nepal
title_full_unstemmed Biogeographical Interpretation of Elevational Patterns of Genus Diversity of Seed Plants in Nepal
title_short Biogeographical Interpretation of Elevational Patterns of Genus Diversity of Seed Plants in Nepal
title_sort biogeographical interpretation of elevational patterns of genus diversity of seed plants in nepal
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4619261/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26488164
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140992
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