Beyond a climate-centric view of plant distribution: edaphic variables add value to distribution models.

ABSTRACT: Both climatic and edaphic conditions determine plant distribution, however many species distribution models do not include edaphic variables especially over large geographical extent. Using an exceptional database of vegetation plots (n = 4839) covering an extent of ∼55,000 km2, we tested whether the inclusion of fine scale edaphic variables would improve model predictions of plant distribution compared to models using only climate predictors. We also tested how well these edaphic variables could predict distribution on their own, to evaluate the assumption that at large extents, distribution is governed largely by climate. We also hypothesized that the relative contribution of edaphic and climatic data would vary among species depending on their growth forms and biogeographical attributes

SUBMITTER: Beauregard F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3962442 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature