Mapping species assemblages of tropical forests at different hierarchical levels based on multivariate regression trees

Background: Vegetation distribution maps are of great significance for nature protection and management. In diverse tropical forests, accurate spatial mapping of vegetation types is challenging;the high species diversity and abundance of rare species challenge classification concepts, while remote sensing signals may not vary systematically with species composition, complicating the technical capability for delineating vegetation types in the landscape.Methods: We used a combination of field-based compositional data and their relations to environmental variables to predict the distribution of forest types in the Wuzhishan National Natural Reserve(WNNR), Hainan Island,China, using multivariate regression trees(MRT). The MRT was based on arboreal vegetation composition in 132plots of 20 m×20 m with a regular spacing of 1 km. Apart from the MRT, non-metric multidimensional scaling(NMDS) was used to evaluate vegetation-environment relationships.Results: The MRT model worked best when using 14 key environmental variables including topography, climate,latitude and soil, although the difference with the simpler model including only topographical variables was small. The full model classified the 132 plots into 3 vegetation types, 6 formation groups, 20 formations and 65associations at different hierarchical syntaxonomic levels. This model was the basis for forest vegetation maps for the WNNR. MRT and NMDS showed that elevation was the main driving force for the distribution of vegetation types and formation groups. Climate, latitude, and soil(especially available P), together with topographic variables, all influenced the distribution of formations and associations.Conclusions: While elevation determines forest-type distributions, lower-level syntaxonomic forest classes respond to the topographic diversity typical for mountains. Apart from providing the first detailed forest vegetation map for any part of WNNR, we show how, in spite of limitations, MRT with existing environmental data can be a useful method for mapping diverse and remote tropical forests.

Combining otolith elemental signatures with multivariate analytical models to verify the migratory pattern of Japanese Spanish mackerel(Scomberomorus niphonius) in the southern Yellow Sea

Japanese Spanish mackerel,Scomberomorus niphonius,is a commercially important,highly migratory species that is widely distributed throughout the northwestern Pacific region.However,its life history and migratory patterns are only partially understood.This study used otolith chemistry to investigate the migratory pattern of S.niphonius in the southern Yellow Sea,an important fishing ground.Transverse sections of otoliths from 15 age-1 spawning or spent individuals,comprising up to one complete migration cycle,were analyzed from the core to the margin by using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.The ratios of the element to Ca were integrated with microstructural analysis to produce age-related elemental profiles.Combining multielemental analysis of otolith composition with multivariate analytical models,we quantified structural changes in otolith chemistry profiles.Results revealed there were diverse changing patterns of otolith chemistry profiles for detected elements and the elements of Na,Mg,Sr and Ba were important for the chronological signal.Five clusters were identified through chronological clustering,representing the five life stages from the early stage to the spawning stage.Variation of Ba:Ca ratio was most informative,showing a step-decreasing pattern in the first four stages and a rebound in the spawning stage.These results support the hypothesized migratory pattern of S.niphonius:hatching and spending their early life in the coastal sandy ridges system of the southern Yellow Sea,migrating northeastward and offshore for feeding during juvenile stage,aggregating in early October and migrating outward to the Jeju Island for wintering,and returning to the coastal waters for spawning.This study demonstrated the value of life-history related otolith chemistry profiles combined with multivariate analytical models was a means to verify the migration patterns of S.niphonius at regional scales with potential application in fisheries assessment and management.

Topographic species-habitat associations of tree species in a heterogeneous tropical karst seasonal rain forest, China

Aims Tropical and subtropical karst forests of south China are under increas-ing pressure from over-exploitation causing widespread habitat degra-dation and biodiversity loss.Previous research has demonstrated that topography,as a proxy for resource availability,plays an important role in shaping tree species distributions in tropical forests.However,the association between growth stages and habitats types has not been considered in this analysis.Our aim was to examine the differences among different habitat types to determine whether tree species show similar species-habitat associations at young and mature life stages.Methods We used multivariate regression tree analysis to examined species-habitat associations among eight topographically defined habitats.The results were tested with a torus-translation test and canonical correspondence analysis(CCA)for 74 species in a 15 ha karst tropi-cal seasonal rain forest at the Nonggang National Natural Reserve in south China.We considered two life stages(young and mature)of trees species that showed a positive association with topography.Important Findings We found marked differences in community characteristics and number of associations among the eight habitats.Of the 74 species subjected to torus-translation test,63 had significant positive and 70 had significant negative associations with one or more of the eight habitats.Positive associations were more frequent in higher elevation habitats and negative associations were more frequent in lower eleva-tion habitats.This suggests that edaphic and hydrological variation related to topography play important roles in habitat partitioning in heterogeneous karst forests.For the 63 tree species with significant positive associations to at least one habitat,40 of them had the same positive association at young and mature life stages.The CCA revealed that the six topographic variables considered had consistent relation-ships with species distribution among all individuals and their two life stages.This indicates that most of the karst forest tree species show consistent associations with a single habitat throughout their life.We conclude that niche differentiation plays an important role in main-taining the diversity of this heterogeneous species-rich karst forest.

Fine-scale habitats influence tree species assemblage in a miombo forest

Aims Relationships between local habitat heterogeneity and tree commu-nities in miombo woodlands have been very little studied.While some studies have addressed this topic at broad scales and based on few environmental parameters,this study aims at(i)detecting fine-scale habitats(≤10 ha)on the basis of a detailed characterisation of soil explicitly considering past anthropogenic disturbances,and an exhaustive census of the tree community,and at(ii)searching for indicator tree species corresponding to the resulting habitats.Methods The study was carried out in the miombo woodland of Mikembo Forest Reserve,Upper Katanga,The Democratic Republic of the congo.A complete census of the tree community was conducted in a 10-ha forest dynamics plot comprising 160 adjacent quadrats of 25×25 m,with a total of 4604 trees(diameter at breast height>10 cm).Thirty-six physicochemical soil parameters were measured.Studying the frequency distribution of soil charcoal content allowed identifying local signature of past human agriculture in the soil.Two strategies were used to define habitats:(i)a combination of principal component analysis(PcA)on soil variables and Ward clustering and(ii)multivariate regression trees(MRT)to search for key soil parameters allowing the best prediction of species composition.Tree-habitat associations were tested by means of a robust statistical framework combining the IndVal index and torus randomisations.Important Findings The forest contained 82 tree species and a significant proportion of wet miombo species(e.g.Marquesia macroura).We detected a strong east-west edaphic gradient driven by soil texture;most chemical soil parameters followed this pattern.Five habitats were identified based on soil factors and floristic composition.Nine indicator species of these habitats were found.The key soil fac-tors discriminating habitats were total calcium,available forms of phosphorus and clay content.Even though past agricultural practices were successfully detected in soils,they did not display any significant influence neither on habitat differentiation nor on the associated tree communities.Based on an unprecedented large number of soil parameters,fine-scale soil heterogeneity and niche partitioning were shown to contribute to the variabil-ity of the floristic composition in this forest.Our results indicated that considering the most variable environmental parameters,as in PcA,is a poor manner for defining habitats.In contrast,combining MRT with the IndVal index and torus randomisation has proved to be a much more robust and sensitive approach to highlight tree-habitat associations at this scale.The common dichotomous viewpoint of considering deterministic and neutral effects as acting at broad and fine scales,respectively,is not confirmed when measuring suitable environmental variables,even in a case where the physical environment does not exhibit strong heterogeneity.

Effects of topography on structuring species assemblages in a subtropical forest

Aims Topography has long been recognized as an important factor in shaping species distributions.Many studies revealed that species may show species-habitat associations.However,few studies inves-tigate how species assemblages are associated with local habitats,and it still remains unclear how the community-habitat associa-tions vary with species abundance class and life stage.In this study,we analyzed the community-habitat associations in a subtropical montane forest.Methods The fully mapped 25-ha(500×500 m)forest plot is located in Badagongshan Nature Reserve in Hunan Province,Central China.It was divided into 625(20×20 m)quadrats.Habitat types were classified by multivariate regression tree analyses that cluster areas with similar species composition according to the topographic characteristics.Indicator species analysis was used to identify the most important species for structuring species assemblages.We also compared the community-habitat associations for two levels of species abundances(i.e.abundant and rare)and three different life stages(i.e.saplings,juveniles and adults),while accounting for sample size effects.Important Findings The Badagongshan plot was divided into five distinct habitat types,which explained 34.7%of the variance in tree species composi-tion.Even with sample size taken into account,community-habi-tat associations for rare species were much weaker than those for abundant species.Also when accounting for sample size,very small differences were found in the variance explained by topography for the three life stages.Indicator species of habitat types were mainly abundant species,and nearly all adult stage indicator species were also indicators in juvenile and sapling stages.Our study manifested that topographical habitat filtering was important in shaping over-all local species compositions.However,habitat filtering was not important in shaping rare species’distributions in this forest.The community-habitat association patterns in this forest were mainly shaped by abundant species.In addition,during the transitions from saplings to juveniles,and from juveniles to adults,the relative importance of habitat filtering was very weak.