Divergence of Seed Mass in Riparian Plant Communities Dominated by Filtering and Random Processes
Restoration of degraded riparian zones is the primary challenge for ensuring the sustainability of watershed ecosystems. An essential aspect of this endeavor is gaining a deep understanding of how riparian plant communities are assembled. The main focus of this study was to investigate how riparian...
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MDPI AG
2023-11-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/12/1164 |
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| author | Wanyu Wang Jinxia Huang Hang Zou Maohua Ma |
| author_facet | Wanyu Wang Jinxia Huang Hang Zou Maohua Ma |
| author_sort | Wanyu Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Restoration of degraded riparian zones is the primary challenge for ensuring the sustainability of watershed ecosystems. An essential aspect of this endeavor is gaining a deep understanding of how riparian plant communities are assembled. The main focus of this study was to investigate how riparian plant communities respond to varying levels of flooding stress along the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) in China’s Yangtze River. To accomplish this, we calculated the diversity of plant taxonomy, traits and phylogeny, and used a null model to reflect the plant community assembly rules within the riparian zones along the TGR. The riparian zones were divided into four regions based on water regime: the fluctuating backwater area, the permanent backwater area, mainstream and tributaries of the TGR, covering the reservoir area of 1084 km<sup>2</sup> with 180 sampling sites surveyed. Our results showed that within the permanent backwater area of the tributaries, the gradient variation in taxonomic and trait diversity of the riparian community was strongly aligned with the varying levels of flooding stress, which suggests that strong environmental selection plays a significant role in this section. Furthermore, through analysis of phylogenetic and trait structures based on the null model, we found that environmental filtering and random processes were the primary mechanisms shaping plant communities in the riparian zones across the entire study area. However, by further examining single traits, we found that seed mass was the sole trait displaying noteworthy divergence in the riparian communities throughout the study area. This finding highlights that seed mass appears as a pivotal divergent trait in the herb succession stage of the riparian communities that is strongly governed by filtering and random processes. In conclusion, we recommend prioritizing seed mass differences in ecological restoration efforts for herb succession in flooding-stressed riparian communities. This approach is crucial for enhancing source utilization, facilitating community assembly, and improving overall recovery outcomes. |
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| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T20:50:31Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-29381c46a5ec4396829cb287df5a8cc22023-12-22T14:03:41ZengMDPI AGDiversity1424-28182023-11-011512116410.3390/d15121164Divergence of Seed Mass in Riparian Plant Communities Dominated by Filtering and Random ProcessesWanyu Wang0Jinxia Huang1Hang Zou2Maohua Ma3Chongqing Institute of Green Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, ChinaChongqing Institute of Green Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, ChinaChongqing Institute of Green Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, ChinaChongqing Institute of Green Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, ChinaRestoration of degraded riparian zones is the primary challenge for ensuring the sustainability of watershed ecosystems. An essential aspect of this endeavor is gaining a deep understanding of how riparian plant communities are assembled. The main focus of this study was to investigate how riparian plant communities respond to varying levels of flooding stress along the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) in China’s Yangtze River. To accomplish this, we calculated the diversity of plant taxonomy, traits and phylogeny, and used a null model to reflect the plant community assembly rules within the riparian zones along the TGR. The riparian zones were divided into four regions based on water regime: the fluctuating backwater area, the permanent backwater area, mainstream and tributaries of the TGR, covering the reservoir area of 1084 km<sup>2</sup> with 180 sampling sites surveyed. Our results showed that within the permanent backwater area of the tributaries, the gradient variation in taxonomic and trait diversity of the riparian community was strongly aligned with the varying levels of flooding stress, which suggests that strong environmental selection plays a significant role in this section. Furthermore, through analysis of phylogenetic and trait structures based on the null model, we found that environmental filtering and random processes were the primary mechanisms shaping plant communities in the riparian zones across the entire study area. However, by further examining single traits, we found that seed mass was the sole trait displaying noteworthy divergence in the riparian communities throughout the study area. This finding highlights that seed mass appears as a pivotal divergent trait in the herb succession stage of the riparian communities that is strongly governed by filtering and random processes. In conclusion, we recommend prioritizing seed mass differences in ecological restoration efforts for herb succession in flooding-stressed riparian communities. This approach is crucial for enhancing source utilization, facilitating community assembly, and improving overall recovery outcomes.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/12/1164riparian zonethe Three Gorges Reservoirflooding stresscommunity assemblytaxonomic diversitytrait diversity |
| spellingShingle | Wanyu Wang Jinxia Huang Hang Zou Maohua Ma Divergence of Seed Mass in Riparian Plant Communities Dominated by Filtering and Random Processes Diversity riparian zone the Three Gorges Reservoir flooding stress community assembly taxonomic diversity trait diversity |
| title | Divergence of Seed Mass in Riparian Plant Communities Dominated by Filtering and Random Processes |
| title_full | Divergence of Seed Mass in Riparian Plant Communities Dominated by Filtering and Random Processes |
| title_fullStr | Divergence of Seed Mass in Riparian Plant Communities Dominated by Filtering and Random Processes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Divergence of Seed Mass in Riparian Plant Communities Dominated by Filtering and Random Processes |
| title_short | Divergence of Seed Mass in Riparian Plant Communities Dominated by Filtering and Random Processes |
| title_sort | divergence of seed mass in riparian plant communities dominated by filtering and random processes |
| topic | riparian zone the Three Gorges Reservoir flooding stress community assembly taxonomic diversity trait diversity |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/12/1164 |
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