Decoupling species richness variation and spatial turnover in beta diversity across a fragmented landscape
Background How habitat fragmentation affects the relationship between local richness and the variation in community composition across space is important to both ecology and conservation biology, but this effect remains poorly understood. Methods Here, we present an empirical study to address this t...
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PeerJ Inc.
2019-04-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/6714.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797420267470848000 |
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| author | Guang Hu Maxwell C. Wilson Jianguo Wu Jingjing Yu Mingjian Yu |
| author_facet | Guang Hu Maxwell C. Wilson Jianguo Wu Jingjing Yu Mingjian Yu |
| author_sort | Guang Hu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background How habitat fragmentation affects the relationship between local richness and the variation in community composition across space is important to both ecology and conservation biology, but this effect remains poorly understood. Methods Here, we present an empirical study to address this topic in a fragmented landscape, the Thousand Island Lake (TIL), an artificial land-bridge island system with more than 1,000 islands, which provides an “experimental” fragmented landscape with a homogeneous matrix and similar successional history. We measured species composition and plant functional type (PFT) on 29 islands, and tested the effects of island area and isolation on the relationship between α- and β-diversity. General Linear Models were applied to test the impact of habitat fragmentation. In addition, variation partitioning was used to decouple α-diversity dependent and α-diversity independent spatial turnover in β-diversity of the plant community and across different PFTs. Results We found habitat fragmentation influences β-diversity of plants primarily by modifying local α-diversity, not spatial turnover in the TIL system. We also found area-dependent environmental filtering and differential plant responses across functional types were the most likely underlying driving mechanisms. Discussion These results highlight the importance of hierarchical linkages between components of biodiversity across scales in fragmented landscapes, and have practical conservation implications. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:00:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-74a40c344f40419d9a38f4c763fa59d6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:00:07Z |
| publishDate | 2019-04-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
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| spelling | doaj.art-74a40c344f40419d9a38f4c763fa59d62023-12-03T09:54:53ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592019-04-017e671410.7717/peerj.6714Decoupling species richness variation and spatial turnover in beta diversity across a fragmented landscapeGuang Hu0Maxwell C. Wilson1Jianguo Wu2Jingjing Yu3Mingjian Yu4School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, ChinaSchool of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USASchool of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USACollege of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaCollege of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaBackground How habitat fragmentation affects the relationship between local richness and the variation in community composition across space is important to both ecology and conservation biology, but this effect remains poorly understood. Methods Here, we present an empirical study to address this topic in a fragmented landscape, the Thousand Island Lake (TIL), an artificial land-bridge island system with more than 1,000 islands, which provides an “experimental” fragmented landscape with a homogeneous matrix and similar successional history. We measured species composition and plant functional type (PFT) on 29 islands, and tested the effects of island area and isolation on the relationship between α- and β-diversity. General Linear Models were applied to test the impact of habitat fragmentation. In addition, variation partitioning was used to decouple α-diversity dependent and α-diversity independent spatial turnover in β-diversity of the plant community and across different PFTs. Results We found habitat fragmentation influences β-diversity of plants primarily by modifying local α-diversity, not spatial turnover in the TIL system. We also found area-dependent environmental filtering and differential plant responses across functional types were the most likely underlying driving mechanisms. Discussion These results highlight the importance of hierarchical linkages between components of biodiversity across scales in fragmented landscapes, and have practical conservation implications.https://peerj.com/articles/6714.pdfArea effectEnvironmental filteringIsolationLand-bridge islandsPlant functional typeThousand Island Lake |
| spellingShingle | Guang Hu Maxwell C. Wilson Jianguo Wu Jingjing Yu Mingjian Yu Decoupling species richness variation and spatial turnover in beta diversity across a fragmented landscape PeerJ Area effect Environmental filtering Isolation Land-bridge islands Plant functional type Thousand Island Lake |
| title | Decoupling species richness variation and spatial turnover in beta diversity across a fragmented landscape |
| title_full | Decoupling species richness variation and spatial turnover in beta diversity across a fragmented landscape |
| title_fullStr | Decoupling species richness variation and spatial turnover in beta diversity across a fragmented landscape |
| title_full_unstemmed | Decoupling species richness variation and spatial turnover in beta diversity across a fragmented landscape |
| title_short | Decoupling species richness variation and spatial turnover in beta diversity across a fragmented landscape |
| title_sort | decoupling species richness variation and spatial turnover in beta diversity across a fragmented landscape |
| topic | Area effect Environmental filtering Isolation Land-bridge islands Plant functional type Thousand Island Lake |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/6714.pdf |
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