Dataset Information

Climate reverses directionality in the richness-abundance relationship across the World's main forest biomes.

ABSTRACT: More tree species can increase the carbon storage capacity of forests (here referred to as the more species hypothesis) through increased tree productivity and tree abundance resulting from complementarity, but they can also be the consequence of increased tree abundance through increased available energy (more individuals hypothesis). To test these two contrasting hypotheses, we analyse the most plausible pathways in the richness-abundance relationship and its stability along global climatic gradients. We show that positive effect of species richness on tree abundance only prevails in eight of the twenty-three forest regions considered in this study. In the other forest regions, any benefit from having more species is just as likely (9 regions) or even less likely (6 regions) than the effects of having more individuals. We demonstrate that diversity effects prevail in the most productive environments, and abundance effects become dominant towards the most limiting conditions. These findings can contribute to refining cost-effective mitigation strategies based on fostering carbon storage through increased tree diversity. Specifically, in less productive environments, mitigation measures should promote abundance of locally adapted and stress tolerant tree species instead of increasing species richness.

SUBMITTER: Madrigal-Gonzalez J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7648646 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Climate reverses directionality in the richness-abundance relationship across the World's main forest biomes.

Madrigal-González Jaime J Calatayud Joaquín J Ballesteros-Cánovas Juan A JA Escudero Adrián A Cayuela Luis L Rueda Marta M Ruiz-Benito Paloma P Herrero Asier A Aponte Cristina C Sagardia Rodrigo R Plumptre Andrew J AJ Dupire Sylvain S Espinosa Carlos I CI Tutubalina Olga O Myint Moe M Pataro Luciano L López-Sáez Jerome J Macía Manuel J MJ Abegg Meinrad M Zavala Miguel A MA Quesada-Román Adolfo A Vega-Araya Mauricio M Golubeva Elena E Timokhina Yuliya Y Stoffel Markus M

Nature communications 20201106 1

More tree species can increase the carbon storage capacity of forests (here referred to as the more species hypothesis) through increased tree productivity and tree abundance resulting from complementarity, but they can also be the consequence of increased tree abundance through increased available energy (more individuals hypothesis). To test these two contrasting hypotheses, we analyse the most plausible pathways in the richness-abundance relationship and its stability along global climatic gr ...[more]

PMID: 33159062

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Project description:As a transitional vegetation type between evergreen broadleaved forest and deciduous broadleaved forest, evergreen-deciduous broadleaved mixed forest is composed of diverse plant species. This distinctive forest is generally distributed in mountainous areas with complex landforms and heterogeneous microenvironments. However, little is known about the roles of environmental conditions in driving the species diversity patterns of this forest. Here, based on a 15-ha plot in central China, we aimed to understand how and to what extent topographical characteristics and soil nutrients regulate the number and relative abundance of tree species in this forest. We measured environmental factors (terrain convexity, slope, soil total nitrogen, and phosphorus concentrations) and species diversity (species abundance distribution and species richness) in 20 m × 20 m subplots. Species abundance distribution was characterized by skewness, Berger-Parker index, and the proportion of singletons. The generalized additive model was used to examine the variations in diversity patterns caused by environmental factors. The structural equation model was used to assess whether and how topographical characteristics regulate species diversity via soil nutrients. We found that soil nutrients had significant negative effects on species richness and positive effects on all metrics of species abundance distribution. Convexity had significant positive effects on species richness and negative effects on all metrics of species abundance distribution, but these effects were mostly mediated by soil nutrients. Slope had significant negative effects on skewness and the Berger-Parker index, and these effects were almost independent of soil nutrients. Soil nutrients and topographical characteristics together accounted for 9.5-17.1% of variations in diversity patterns and, respectively, accounted for 8.9-13.9% and 3.3-10.7% of the variations. We concluded that soil nutrients were more important than topographical factors in regulating species diversity. Increased soil nutrient concentration led to decreased taxonomic diversity and increased species dominance and rarity. Convexity could be a better proxy for soil nutrients than slope. Moreover, these abiotic factors played limited roles in regulating diversity patterns, and it is possible that the observed patterns are also driven by some biotic and abiotic factors not considered here.

Dataset Information

Climate reverses directionality in the richness-abundance relationship across the World's main forest biomes.

Publications

Climate reverses directionality in the richness-abundance relationship across the World's main forest biomes.

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