Quantifying the relative importance of climate and habitat on structuring the species and taxonomic diversity of aquatic plants in a biodiversity hotspot of tropical Asia

It has not been well known how climate and habitat variables will influence the distribution of plant species to some extents at mesoscales. In this report, by using the distribution of aquatic plants in Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot in tropical Asian region, I quantify the relative importan...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Youhua, Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2015
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8237/1/11_Youhua_Chen.pdf
_version_ 1825726212939448320
author Youhua, Chen
author_facet Youhua, Chen
author_sort Youhua, Chen
collection UKM
description It has not been well known how climate and habitat variables will influence the distribution of plant species to some extents at mesoscales. In this report, by using the distribution of aquatic plants in Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot in tropical Asian region, I quantify the relative importance of climate and habitat variables on structuring spatially species richness and taxonomic diversity patterns using structural equation modeling. All the sampling qudrats in the region used for the study has a spatial resolution of 0.5 latitude × 0.5 longitude. The results showed that species richness is high in both northern and southern part of the region, while low in the middle part. In contrast, taxonomic distinctiveness is relatively homogeneous over all the sampling quadrats in the region. Structural equation modeling suggested that taxonomic distinctiveness patterns of aquatic plants in the region follow temperature (partial regression coefficient=0.31, p<0.05) and elevational (partial regression coefficient=0.31, p<0.05) gradients, while richness patterns cannot be explained by any of the currently used variables. In conclusion, environmental variables that are related to taxonomic distinctiveness would not be related to richness, given the fact that these two quantities are orthogonal more or less. Both climate and habitat are equally influential on taxonomic distinctiveness patterns for aquatic plants in Western Ghats of India.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T04:07:28Z
format Article
id ukm.eprints-8237
institution Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-06T04:07:28Z
publishDate 2015
publisher Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
record_format dspace
spelling ukm.eprints-82372016-12-14T06:46:38Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8237/ Quantifying the relative importance of climate and habitat on structuring the species and taxonomic diversity of aquatic plants in a biodiversity hotspot of tropical Asia Youhua, Chen It has not been well known how climate and habitat variables will influence the distribution of plant species to some extents at mesoscales. In this report, by using the distribution of aquatic plants in Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot in tropical Asian region, I quantify the relative importance of climate and habitat variables on structuring spatially species richness and taxonomic diversity patterns using structural equation modeling. All the sampling qudrats in the region used for the study has a spatial resolution of 0.5 latitude × 0.5 longitude. The results showed that species richness is high in both northern and southern part of the region, while low in the middle part. In contrast, taxonomic distinctiveness is relatively homogeneous over all the sampling quadrats in the region. Structural equation modeling suggested that taxonomic distinctiveness patterns of aquatic plants in the region follow temperature (partial regression coefficient=0.31, p<0.05) and elevational (partial regression coefficient=0.31, p<0.05) gradients, while richness patterns cannot be explained by any of the currently used variables. In conclusion, environmental variables that are related to taxonomic distinctiveness would not be related to richness, given the fact that these two quantities are orthogonal more or less. Both climate and habitat are equally influential on taxonomic distinctiveness patterns for aquatic plants in Western Ghats of India. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2015-01 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8237/1/11_Youhua_Chen.pdf Youhua, Chen (2015) Quantifying the relative importance of climate and habitat on structuring the species and taxonomic diversity of aquatic plants in a biodiversity hotspot of tropical Asia. Sains Malaysiana, 44 (1). pp. 75-81. ISSN 0126-6039 http://www.ukm.my/jsm/
spellingShingle Youhua, Chen
Quantifying the relative importance of climate and habitat on structuring the species and taxonomic diversity of aquatic plants in a biodiversity hotspot of tropical Asia
title Quantifying the relative importance of climate and habitat on structuring the species and taxonomic diversity of aquatic plants in a biodiversity hotspot of tropical Asia
title_full Quantifying the relative importance of climate and habitat on structuring the species and taxonomic diversity of aquatic plants in a biodiversity hotspot of tropical Asia
title_fullStr Quantifying the relative importance of climate and habitat on structuring the species and taxonomic diversity of aquatic plants in a biodiversity hotspot of tropical Asia
title_full_unstemmed Quantifying the relative importance of climate and habitat on structuring the species and taxonomic diversity of aquatic plants in a biodiversity hotspot of tropical Asia
title_short Quantifying the relative importance of climate and habitat on structuring the species and taxonomic diversity of aquatic plants in a biodiversity hotspot of tropical Asia
title_sort quantifying the relative importance of climate and habitat on structuring the species and taxonomic diversity of aquatic plants in a biodiversity hotspot of tropical asia
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8237/1/11_Youhua_Chen.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT youhuachen quantifyingtherelativeimportanceofclimateandhabitatonstructuringthespeciesandtaxonomicdiversityofaquaticplantsinabiodiversityhotspotoftropicalasia