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Spatial scale changes the relationship between beta diversity, species richness and latitude

Sreekar R 1 , Katabuchi M 2 , Nakamura A 3 , Corlett RT 4 , Slik JWF 5 , Fletcher C 6 Show all authors , He F 7 , Weiblen GD 8 , Shen G 9 , Xu H 10 , Sun IF 11 , Cao K 12 , Ma K 12 , Chang LW 13 , Cao M 3 , Jiang M 14 , Gunatilleke IAUN 15 , Ong P 16 , Yap S 17 , Gunatilleke CVS 15 , Novotny V 18 , Brockelman WY 19 , Xiang W 20 , Mi X 12 , Li X 20 , Wang X 21 , Qiao X 14 , Li Y 10 , Tan S 22 , Condit R 23 , Harrison RD 24 , Koh LP 1

Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, South Australia, Australia
  • 2 Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, MI 49060, USA
  • 3 Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yunnan 666303, People's Republic of China
  • 4 Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Menglun, Yunnan 666303, People's Republic of China
  • 5 Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong, Brunei Darussalam
  • 6 Forestry and Environment Division, Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Kepong, Selangor 52109, Malaysia
  • 7 Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2G7
  • 8 Bell Museum and Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN, USA
  • 9 School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
  • 10 Research Institute of Tropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Tianhe, Guangzhou 510520, People's Republic of China
  • 11 Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien 97401, Taiwan, Republic of China
  • 12 State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, People's Republic of China
  • 13 Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, National Taiwan University, 1 Roosevelt Road, Section 4, Taipei 10617, Taiwan, Republic of China
  • 14 Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Wuhan 430074, People's Republic of China
  • 15 Faculty of Science, Department of Botany, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya 20400, Sri Lanka
  • 16 Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Philippines
  • 17 Institute of Arts and Sciences, Far Eastern University, Manila, Philippines
  • 18 Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branisovska 31, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
  • 19 BIOTEC, National Science and Technology Development Agency, 113 Science Park, Klongluang, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand
  • 20 Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Conservation and Restoration Ecology in Karst Terrain, Guangxi Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guilin 541006, People's Republic of China
  • 21 Tiantong National Forest Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, People's Republic of China
  • 22 Center for Tropical Forest Science - Forest Global Earth Observatory, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA
  • 23 Center for Tropical Forest Science - Forest Global Earth Observatory, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama, Republic of Panama
  • 24 Agroforestry Centre, East and Southern Africa Region, 13 Elm Road, Woodlands, Lusaka, Zambia
R Soc Open Sci, 2018 Sep;5(9):181168.
PMID: 30839691 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.181168

Abstract

The relationship between β-diversity and latitude still remains to be a core question in ecology because of the lack of consensus between studies. One hypothesis for the lack of consensus between studies is that spatial scale changes the relationship between latitude and β-diversity. Here, we test this hypothesis using tree data from 15 large-scale forest plots (greater than or equal to 15 ha, diameter at breast height ≥ 1 cm) across a latitudinal gradient (3-30o) in the Asia-Pacific region. We found that the observed β-diversity decreased with increasing latitude when sampling local tree communities at small spatial scale (grain size ≤0.1 ha), but the observed β-diversity did not change with latitude when sampling at large spatial scales (greater than or equal to 0.25 ha). Differences in latitudinal β-diversity gradients across spatial scales were caused by pooled species richness (γ-diversity), which influenced observed β-diversity values at small spatial scales, but not at large spatial scales. Therefore, spatial scale changes the relationship between β-diversity, γ-diversity and latitude, and improving sample representativeness avoids the γ-dependence of β-diversity.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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