Relative importance of climatic and habitat factors on plant richness along elevation gradients on the Mt. Baekhwa, South Korea
2018
Lee, C.B., Korea Forestry Promotion Institute, Seoul, Republic of Korea | Chun, J .H., National Institute of Forest Science, Seoul, Republic of Korea
This study explored the richness patterns of vascular plant species and evaluated the effects of the climatic and habitat variables on the observed patterns along elevational gradients on the Mt. Baekhwa, South Korea. Plant data were recorded from 70 plots and a total of 187 plant species with 78 woody and 109 herbaceous species were recorded along two study transects, the Banyasa and Bohyunsa transects, on the Mt. Baekhwa. A total of 154 plant species with 66 woody and 88 herbaceous species and 131 plant species with 58 woody and 73 herbaceous species were recorded along the Banyasa and Bohyunsa transects, respectively. We used simple ordinary least squares regression model, multi-model inference and variation partitioning to analyze the relative contribution of climatic and habitat variables on the elevational richness patterns. Species richness pattern for vascular plants along the Banyasa transect monotonically decreased with elevation, whereas plant species richness showed reversed hump-shaped pattern along the Bohyunsa transect. Although the elevational patterns of species richness for vascular plants were different between the both transects, habitat variables are more important predictors than climatic variables for the elevational patterns of plant species richness along our study transects on the Mt. Baekhwa. These results indicate that elevational diversity patterns of vascular plants may be different even between nearby elevational transects in a mountain ecosystem but the diversity patterns may be controlled by same drivers.
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