Beta diversity determinants in Badagongshan, a subtropical forest in central China.

ABSTRACT: Niche and neutral theories emphasize different processes contributing to the maintenance of species diversity. In this study, we calculated the local contribution to beta diversity (LCBD) of every cell, using variation partitioning in combination with spatial distance and environmental variables of the 25-ha Badagongshan plot (BDGS), to determine the contribution of environmentally-related variation versus pure spatial variation. We used topography and soil characteristics as environmental variables, distance-based Moran's eigenvectors maps (dbMEM) to describe spatial relationships among cells and redundancy analysis (RDA) to apportion the variation in beta diversity into three components: pure environmental, spatially-structured environmental, and pure spatial. Results showed LCBD values

SUBMITTER: Qiao X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4655473 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature