Drivers of plant diversity, community composition, functional traits, and soil processes along an alpine gradient in the central Chilean Andes.

ABSTRACT: High alpine regions are threatened but understudied ecosystems that harbor diverse endemic species, making them an important biome for testing the role of environmental factors in driving functional trait-mediated community assembly processes. We tested the hypothesis that plant community assembly along a climatic and elevation gradient is influenced by shifts in habitat suitability, which drive plant functional, phylogenetic, and spectral diversity. In a high mountain system (2400-3500 m) Región Metropolitana in the central Chilean Andes (33°S, 70°W). We surveyed vegetation and spectroscopic reflectance (400-2400 nm) to quantify taxonomic, phylogenetic, functional, and spectral diversity at five sites from 2400 to 3500 m elevation. We characterized soil attributes and processes by measuri

SUBMITTER: Schroeder L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10857943 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature