Disentangling the influence of climate, soil and belowground microbes on local species richness in a dryland ecosystem of Northwest China.

ABSTRACT: Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) covers one of the largest drylands in the world, while the relative effects of different environmental factors on plant diversity are poorly understood. We sampled 66 sites in a typical dryland of XUAR, which covers more than 450,000 km2, to evaluate the relative influences of different factors on the patterns of local plant species richness (LPSR). We found that overall and herbaceous LPSR were positively correlated with water availability, soil nutrients but negatively correlated with energy availability, while the shrub LPSR showed the opposite response. Climate, soil attributes together explained 53.2% and 59.2% of the variance in overall and herbaceous LPSR, respectively; revealing that LPSR patterns were shaped by abiotic and underground biotic

SUBMITTER: Wang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5740161 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature