title: Disentangling the drivers of taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversities in disturbed and undisturbed subtropical forests.
abstract: Understanding the relative importance of dispersal limitation and environmental filtering processes in structuring the beta diversities of subtropical forests in human disturbed landscapes is still limited. Here we used taxonomic (TBD) and phylogenetic (PBD), including terminal PBD (PBDt) and basal PBD (PBDb), beta diversity indices to quantify the taxonomic and phylogenetic turnovers at different depths of evolutionary history in disturbed and undisturbed subtropical forests. Multiple linear regression model and distance-based redundancy analysis were used to disentangle the relative importance of environmental and spatial variables. Environmental variables were significantly correlated with TBD and PBDt metrics. Temperature and precipitation were major environmental drivers of beta diversity patterns, which explained 7-27% of the variance in TBD and PBDt, whereas the spatial variables independently explained less than 1% of the variation for all forests. The relative importance of environmental and spatial variables differed between disturbed and undisturbed forests (e.g., when Bray-Curtis was used as a beta diversity metric, environmental variable had a significant effect on beta diversity for disturbed forests but had no effect on undisturbed forests). We conclude that environmental filtering plays a more important role than geographical limitation and disturbance history in driving taxonomic and terminal phylogenetic beta diversity.
authors: College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China.
authors: Jinliang
authors: J
authors: Liu
authors: Research and Collections Center, Illinois State Museum, 1011 East Ash Street, Springfield, IL 62703, USA.
authors: Hong
authors: H
authors: Qian
authors: College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China.
authors: Yi
authors: Y
authors: Jin
authors: Zhejiang Forestry Academy, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310023, China.
authors: Chuping
authors: C
authors: Wu
authors: College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang 321004, China.
authors: Jianhua
authors: J
authors: Chen
authors: School of Forestry and Bio-technology, Zhejiang A&F University, Lin'an, Zhejiang 311300, China.
authors: Shuquan
authors: S
authors: Yu
authors: School of Environmental &Resource Sciences, Zhejiang A&F University, Lin'an, Zhejiang 311300, China.
authors: Xinliang
authors: X
authors: Wei
authors: College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 311121, China.
authors: Xiaofeng
authors: X
authors: Jin
authors: College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China.
authors: Jiajia
authors: J
authors: Liu
authors: College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China.
authors: Mingjian
authors: M
authors: Yu
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D002681:China; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D065928:Forests; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006802:Human Activities; D015233:Models, Statistical; D010802:Phylogeny; D063148:Plant Dispersal; D011891:Rain; D062206:Spatial Analysis; D013696:Temperature; D014197:Trees / Q000145:classification* / Q000254:growth & development*