Plant community phylogeny responses to protections and its main drivers in boreal forests, China: General pattern and implications

Yanbo Yang; Zhaoliang Zhong; Lixin Jing; Qi Li; Huimei Wang; Wenjie Wang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161151

Plant community phylogeny responses to protections and its main drivers in boreal forests, China: General pattern and implications

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Mar 15:864:161151. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161151. Epub 2022 Dec 23.

Authors

Yanbo Yang¹, Zhaoliang Zhong², Lixin Jing¹, Qi Li¹, Huimei Wang³, Wenjie Wang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Forest Plant Ecology, Heilongjiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Ecological Utilization of Forestry-based Active Substances, College of Chemistry, Chemistry Engineering and Resource Utilization, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China.
² College of Resources & Environment, Jiujiang University, Jiujiang 332005, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Forest Plant Ecology, Heilongjiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Ecological Utilization of Forestry-based Active Substances, College of Chemistry, Chemistry Engineering and Resource Utilization, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China. Electronic address: whm0709@hotmail.com.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Forest Plant Ecology, Heilongjiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Ecological Utilization of Forestry-based Active Substances, College of Chemistry, Chemistry Engineering and Resource Utilization, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Urban Forests and Wetland Group, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Changchun 130102, China; State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, College of Forestry and Biotechnology, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, 311300, China. Electronic address: wwj225@nefu.edu.cn.

PMID: 36572317
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161151

Abstract

Patterns of the phylogenetic structure have been broadly applied to predict community assembly processes. However, the distribution pattern of evolutionary diversity and its drivers under nature conservation are still poorly understood in boreal forests. Here, we investigated 1738 sampling plots and subplots from distinct protection intensities (PIs) zones in five representative National Nature Reserves (NNRs). Multiple comparisons, redundancy analysis, and linear mixed model were performed to identify the changes in community phylogeny across different PIs and NNRs and the drivers for these variations. Our results showed considerable plant community phylogeny variations in different NNRs. As indicated by SesMPD (standardized mean pairwise distance) and SesMNTD (standardized the mean nearest taxon distance), trees, shrubs, and herbs presented overdispersed, clustered, and random distribution patterns, respectively, in different PIs. Protection resulted in the phylogenetic structure between the nearest species of trees showing a more overdispersed pattern (p < 0.05). Protection decreased the phylogenetically clustered degree between the nearest species of shrubs (p > 0.05), while the herbs still maintained a random pattern. Community traits explained the most to phylogeny variation of different communities (24 %-71 %, p < 0.01), followed by geoclimatic factors (2 %-24 %) and conservation processes (1 %-21 %). The higher mean annual precipitation and under branch height at the lower latitude area accompanied the higher SesMPD and SesMNTD. The higher PIs attended with higher tree SesMPD, and the longer protection time resulted in higher shrub PSR (phylogenetic species richness) and PSV (phylogenetic species variability). Including the location of NNRs, community traits, and years of protection, rather than only emphasizing PI itself, could optimize community phylogenetic structure and preserve the evolutionary potential of biodiversity.

Keywords: Biodiversity conservation; Forest traits; Nature reserves; Phylogenetic diversity; Soil properties.

MeSH terms

Biodiversity
China
Forests
Phylogeny
Plants*
Taiga*