Different environmental factors drive tree species diversity along elevation gradients in three climatic zones in Yunnan,southern China

Elevational patterns of tree diversity are well studied worldwide.However,few studies have examined how seedlings respond to elevational gradients and whether their responses vary across climatic zones.In this study,we established three elevational transects in tropical,subtropical and subalpine mountain forests in Yunnan Province,southern China,to examine the responses of tree species and their seedlings to elevational gradients.Within each transect,we calculated species diversity indices and composition of both adult trees and seedlings at different elevations.For both adult trees and seedlings,we found that species diversity decreased with increasing elevation in both tropical and subalpine transects.Species composition showed significant elevational separation within all three transects.Many species had specific elevational preferences,but abundant tree species that occurred at specific elevations tended to have very limited recruitment in the understory.Our results highlight that the major factors that determine elevational distributions of tree species vary across climatic zones.Specifically,we found that the contribution of air temperature to tree species composition increased from tropical to subalpine transects,whereas the contribution of soil moisture decreased across these transects.

Lianas as structural parasites:A re-evaluation

Lianas are a principal physiognomic component of tropical and subtropical forests and are typically considered to be parasites of trees. In contrast, the substantial contribution of lianas to rainforest leaf litter production (up to 40%) suggests that they play important roles in nutrient cycles and may benefit their host trees. Lianas contribute disproportionately to total forest litter production at least partially because lianas invest relatively little in support structures and proportionately much more to leaf production when compared with trees. In contrast to tree leaves, liana leaves are higher in nutrient concentrations, relatively short-lived, and decompose more rapidly. In addition, the special life form of lianas allows them to grow vertically and horizontally in the forest and relocate nutrients, mainly towards their host trees, through the production of leaf litter. Consequently, lianas may contribute substantially to the high rainforest productivity, and the roles they play in liana/tree associations and rainforest dynamics needs to be re-evaluated.

Environmental and spatial contributions to seedling and adult tree assembly across tropical,subtropical and subalpine elevational gradients

Aims Quantifying the relative importance of the mechanisms that drive community assembly in forests is a crucial issue in community ecol-ogy.The present study aims to understand the ways in which niche-based and spatially based processes influence community assembly in areas in different climatic conditions and how these processes change during the transition from seedling to adult.Methods In this study,we investigated how taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity in seedling and adult stages of forest trees change across three elevational transects in tropical,subtropical and subalpine for-ests in Southwest China,and the relationships of these changes to the environment and inter-site distances.We quantified the relative contribution of environmental conditions and spatial distribution to taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity of both seedling and adult life stages along each elevational transect.We also quantified the taxonomic and phylogenetic similarity between seedlings and adult trees along elevations.Important Findings Taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity of both seedlings and adult trees increased with an increase in both environmental distance and spatial distance in all three transects.On both taxonomic and phylo-genetic levels,the effects of environmental filtering and spatial dispos-ition varied between life stages and among forest types.Phylogenetic similarity between seedlings and adult trees increased with elevation,although the taxonomic similarity did not show clear elevational pat-terns.Our results suggest that the relative contribution of niche-based and space-based processes to taxonomic and phylogenetic assem-blages varies across major plant life stages and among forest types.Our findings also highlight the importance of ontogenetic stages for fully understanding community assembly of long-lived tree species.