Climate and topographic drivers of species and functional diversity in subtropical shrublands of Guangdong, China
Subtropical shrubland ecosystems in southern China are increasingly threatened by degradation under global climate change. However, the mechanisms by which environmental gradients shape species and functional diversity remain poorly understood. In this study, we examined spatial patterns of biodiver...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Ecological Indicators |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X25005710 |
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| author | Xuan Luo Mengmeng Yang Muhammad Sadiq Khan Wanxuan Huang Shizhong Liu Feiyong Liao Yuelin Li |
| author_facet | Xuan Luo Mengmeng Yang Muhammad Sadiq Khan Wanxuan Huang Shizhong Liu Feiyong Liao Yuelin Li |
| author_sort | Xuan Luo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Subtropical shrubland ecosystems in southern China are increasingly threatened by degradation under global climate change. However, the mechanisms by which environmental gradients shape species and functional diversity remain poorly understood. In this study, we examined spatial patterns of biodiversity across 15 shrubland communities in Guangdong Province using taxonomic and functional diversity indices, regression analysis, Pearson correlation, Redundancy analysis (RDA), and MaxEnt modeling. We found that species and functional diversity declined significantly along the longitudinal gradient, while species diversity increased and functional diversity decreased with increasing latitude. Precipitation during the wettest month explained 55.2 % of the variation in species diversity (p < 0.05). For functional diversity, precipitation during the driest month and the minimum temperature of the coldest month accounted for 55.2 % and 10.2 % of the variance, respectively (p < 0.05). Soil nutrients and topographic variables also contributed to spatial heterogeneity in diversity patterns. MaxEnt models predicted species distributions with high accuracy (mean AUC > 0.96). These findings highlight the dominant roles of climatic and edaphic factors in structuring shrubland biodiversity, providing a robust foundation for conservation planning and sustainable ecosystem management in subtropical regions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-54d1b188b00c49e1a90deda744b656be |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1470-160X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecological Indicators |
| spelling | doaj-art-54d1b188b00c49e1a90deda744b656be2025-08-20T03:30:38ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2025-07-0117611364110.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113641Climate and topographic drivers of species and functional diversity in subtropical shrublands of Guangdong, ChinaXuan Luo0Mengmeng Yang1Muhammad Sadiq Khan2Wanxuan Huang3Shizhong Liu4Feiyong Liao5Yuelin Li6Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China; Hunan Big Data Engineering Technology Research Center of Natural Protected Areas Landscape Resources, Changsha 410004, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, ChinaCentral South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, China; Hunan Big Data Engineering Technology Research Center of Natural Protected Areas Landscape Resources, Changsha 410004, ChinaCentral South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Correspondence author at: South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, ChinaSubtropical shrubland ecosystems in southern China are increasingly threatened by degradation under global climate change. However, the mechanisms by which environmental gradients shape species and functional diversity remain poorly understood. In this study, we examined spatial patterns of biodiversity across 15 shrubland communities in Guangdong Province using taxonomic and functional diversity indices, regression analysis, Pearson correlation, Redundancy analysis (RDA), and MaxEnt modeling. We found that species and functional diversity declined significantly along the longitudinal gradient, while species diversity increased and functional diversity decreased with increasing latitude. Precipitation during the wettest month explained 55.2 % of the variation in species diversity (p < 0.05). For functional diversity, precipitation during the driest month and the minimum temperature of the coldest month accounted for 55.2 % and 10.2 % of the variance, respectively (p < 0.05). Soil nutrients and topographic variables also contributed to spatial heterogeneity in diversity patterns. MaxEnt models predicted species distributions with high accuracy (mean AUC > 0.96). These findings highlight the dominant roles of climatic and edaphic factors in structuring shrubland biodiversity, providing a robust foundation for conservation planning and sustainable ecosystem management in subtropical regions.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X25005710Subtropical shrublandsSpecies diversityFunctional diversityEnvironmental gradientsMaxEnt modelingGuangdong Province |
| spellingShingle | Xuan Luo Mengmeng Yang Muhammad Sadiq Khan Wanxuan Huang Shizhong Liu Feiyong Liao Yuelin Li Climate and topographic drivers of species and functional diversity in subtropical shrublands of Guangdong, China Ecological Indicators Subtropical shrublands Species diversity Functional diversity Environmental gradients MaxEnt modeling Guangdong Province |
| title | Climate and topographic drivers of species and functional diversity in subtropical shrublands of Guangdong, China |
| title_full | Climate and topographic drivers of species and functional diversity in subtropical shrublands of Guangdong, China |
| title_fullStr | Climate and topographic drivers of species and functional diversity in subtropical shrublands of Guangdong, China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate and topographic drivers of species and functional diversity in subtropical shrublands of Guangdong, China |
| title_short | Climate and topographic drivers of species and functional diversity in subtropical shrublands of Guangdong, China |
| title_sort | climate and topographic drivers of species and functional diversity in subtropical shrublands of guangdong china |
| topic | Subtropical shrublands Species diversity Functional diversity Environmental gradients MaxEnt modeling Guangdong Province |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X25005710 |
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