Identifying hotspots of woody plant diversity and their relevance with home ranges of the critically endangered gibbon (Nomascus hainanus) across forest landscapes within a tropical nature reserve

Xinran Li; Zhidong Zhang; Wenxing Long; Runguo Zang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1283037

Identifying hotspots of woody plant diversity and their relevance with home ranges of the critically endangered gibbon (Nomascus hainanus) across forest landscapes within a tropical nature reserve

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Dec 1:14:1283037. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1283037. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xinran Li¹, Zhidong Zhang², Wenxing Long^{3

4}, Runguo Zang^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Conservation of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Ecology and Nature Conservation Institute, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China.
² Hebei Provincial Key Laboratory of Forest Trees Germplasm Resources and Forest Protection, College of Forestry, Agricultural University of Hebei, Baoding, China.
³ Wuzhishan National Long-Term Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Research Station, Hainan Key Laboratory for Sustainable Utilization of Tropical Bioresource, College of Forestry, Hainan University, Haikou, China.
⁴ Institute of Hainan National Park, Haikou, China.
⁵ Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China.

Abstract

Introduction: To achieve effective conservation objectives, it is crucial to map biodiversity patterns and hotspots while considering multiple influencing factors. However, focusing solely on biodiversity hotspots is inadequate for species conservation on a landscape scale. This emphasizes the importance of integrating hotspots with the home ranges of species to identify priority conservation areas.

Methods: Compiling the vegetation data with environmental and anthropogenic disturbance data collected from kilometer-grid plots in Bawangling Nature Reserve, Hainan, China, we analyzed the spatial distribution of plant diversity (species richness and Shannon-Wiener index), as well as the main drivers affecting these patterns. We also investigated the spatial distribution of hotspots using a threshold approach and compared them with the home ranges of the flagship species, Hainan gibbon (Nomascus hainanus).

Result: Climate and soil are predominant drivers shaping the spatial pattern of plant diversity in Bawangling Nature Reserve, surpassing the influence of anthropogenic disturbance and topographic factors. Both diversity indices exhibit a generally similar pattern with exceptions in surrounding areas of Futouling and Elongling. The hotspots identified by the Shannon-Wiener index showed a higher spatial overlap with the home ranges of Hainan gibbon compared to the species richness hotspots. The recently established Hainan gibbon Group E in 2019, located 8 km away from the original Futouling habitat, does not coincide with identified hotspots.

Discussion: Our findings indicate that the hotspots of plant diversity within the habitat of Hainan gibbon Group E are relatively limited, emphasizing the necessity of giving precedence to its conservation. Integrating hotspots with the home ranges of critically endangered species offers decision-makers valuable information to establish rational conservation networks in the context of changing environments, as well as a reference for habitat restoration of species.

Keywords: Hainan gibbon; anthropogenic disturbance; hotspots; plant diversity pattern; species conservation; tropical rainforest.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U22A20503).