Distance decay of floristic composition along temperature and moisture gradient in Taiwan
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| Year of publication | 2013 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Vegetation pattern in Taiwan is influenced by temperature and moisture gradients. Empirical experience indicates that in cooler areas, one vegetation type can occur across the whole island, while in warmer areas vegetation types exhibit a remarkable local variation. Does distance decay of similarity in floristic composition increase from cool to warm areas? If so, what is possible explanation for this pattern? To answer these questions, we used the National Vegetation Database of Taiwan with 5018 forest vegetation plots covering an altitudinal range of almost 3500 m. The dataset was stratified using a randomly moving window, generating spatially structured subsamples. Mantel test and variance partitioning were used to calculate adjusted R2 of the relationship between vegetation similarity matrix and geographic distance or environmental similarity matrix, respectively. The results show that distance decay of floristic composition is stronger in warmer and/or wetter habitats in Taiwan. In warmer habitats, it can be explained by the dispersal limitation or unknown spatially structured environmental factors; in wetter habitats by the spatially structured environmental factors. |
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