Vegetation-environment relationship in Pinus wallichiana forests of the Swat Hindukush range of Pakistan

Understanding the influence of environmental variables on the spatial distribution of ecological communities is essential to predict the response of vegetation to various environmental drivers.Ecological theory suggests that multiple environmental factors shape local species assemblages and should influence the various components of community structure and composition in different ways.This study aimed to classify Pinus wallichiana dominated forests in the Swat Hindukush range mountains to understand the relative influence of multiple environmental filters on its composition and structure.These forests represent the most typical of the species distribution in northern Pakistan and were not subjected to any phytosociological study.For this purpose,thirty forest stands,spanning a wide range of physical habitats were sampled using 10 x 10 m plots and the importance value index was calculated.The floristic and environmental data were subjected to Ward’s agglomerative cluster analysis for objective classification and ordinated with NMS ordination for pattern description and testing the vegetation-environmental relationships.Three floristically and ecologically distinct communities were recognized along the topographic gradient(elevation,r=0.377;slope,r=0.5548) coupled with soil physical(clay,r=0.2782;silt,r=0.3225) and chemical properties(pH,r=0.4975;lime,r=3982).An elevation gradient of 100 m separated the low(Pinus wallichiana-Quercus dilatata community)and middle elevations forest stands(P.wallichiana pure population) from the highland population type(Pinus wallichiana-Cedrus deodara community).The floristics and structure of these forest types respond directly or indirectly to topographic and soil variables which were evidenced from the floristic composition,species richness,and community physiognomy.These characteristics of the communities changed from heterogenous,dense stands to sparsely dispersed conifers,broadleaved-evergreen,and deciduous vegetation types along the environmental gradients.We concluded that several factors explained the spatial pattern.Thus,we predict that elevation coupled with soil physical and chemical properties could be considered if the ultimate goal is the restoration and conservation of these forests.We also recommend broad-scale phytosociological study on P.wallichiana forests including multiple sampling from diverse locations to define the floristic diversity and to better understand its ecological requirements.

Study on climate-vegetation interaction in China

The climate-vegetation interaction of China is mainly controlled by the atmospheric circulations and topographic characteristics. The distribution and NPP of vegetation zones show a close relationship with a series of climatological indexes, such as annual mean temperature, precipitation, various thermal indexes, and potential evapotranspiration rates. The multivariate analysis (DCA) for climate and vegetation, zones in China provides quantitative environmental interpretation for two significant ecological gradients. The first gradient is mainly a thermal gradient, it can be displayed by latitude, altitude, biotemperature, and annual mean temperature. The second gradient is basically a moisture gradient, it correlated highly with longitude and potential evaportranspiration. The quantitative interaction or statistical models between vegetation zones and climato-geographical indexes can provide a fundamental scenario and comparative parameters for the study on climate and vegetation changes in China.

Temporal stability and directional change in a color cline of a marine snail from NW Spain

The evolution and maintenance of color clines is a classic topic of research in evolutionary ecology.However,studies analyzing the temporal dynamics of such clines are much less frequent,due to the difficulty of obtaining reliable data about past color distributions along environmen-tal gradients.In this article,we describe a case of decades-long temporal stability and directional change in a color cline of the marine snail Littorina saxatilis along the coastal inlet of the Ria de Vigo(NW Spain).L.saxatilis from this area shows a clear color cline with 3 distinct areas from the innermost to the more wave-exposed localities of the Ria:the inner,protected localities show an abundance of fawn-like individuals;the intermediate localities show a high diversity of colors;and the outer,wave-exposed localities show populations with a high frequency of a black and lineated morph.We compare data from the 1970s and 2022 in the same localities,showing that the cline has kept relatively stable for at least over half a century,except for some directional change and local variability in the frequency of certain morphs.Multiple regression analyses and biodiversity measures are presented to provide clues into the selective pressures that might be involved in the maintenance of this color cline.Future research avenues to properly test the explanatory power of these selective agents as well as the possible origins of the cline are discussed.

Plant functional and phylogenetic turnover correlate with climate and land use in the Western Swiss Alps

Aims Understanding the relative importance of historical and environ-mental processes in the structure and composition of communities is one of the longest quests in ecological research.Increasingly,researchers are relying on the functional and phylogeneticβ-diversity of natural communities to provide concise explanations on the mechanistic basis of community assembly and the drivers of trait variation among species.The present study investigated how plant functional and phylogeneticβ-diversity change along key environmental and spatial gradients in the Western Swiss Alps.Methods Using the quadratic diversity measure based on six functional traits-specific leaf area,leaf dry matter content,plant height,leaf carbon content,leaf nitrogen content and leaf carbon to nitrogen content alongside a species-resolved phylogenetic tree-we relate variations in climate,spatial geographic,land use and soil gradients to plant functional and phylogenetic turnover in mountain commu-nities of the Western Swiss Alps.Important Findings Our study highlights two main points.First,climate and land-use factors play an important role in mountain plant community turnover.Second,the overlap between plant functional and phy-logenetic turnover along these gradients correlates with the low phylogenetic signal in traits,suggesting that in mountain land-scapes,trait lability is likely an important factor in driving plant community assembly.Overall,we demonstrate the importance of climate and land-use factors in plant functional and phyloge-netic community turnover and provide valuable complementary insights into understanding patterns ofβ-diversity along several ecological gradients.