Song, X.; Gu, J.; Ye, Y.; Li, W.; Liao, Y.; Wang, R.; Ma, H.; Shao, X. The Diversity and Community Pattern of Liverworts on Sygera Mountain, Tibet. Forests2024, 15, 48.
Song, X.; Gu, J.; Ye, Y.; Li, W.; Liao, Y.; Wang, R.; Ma, H.; Shao, X. The Diversity and Community Pattern of Liverworts on Sygera Mountain, Tibet. Forests 2024, 15, 48.
Song, X.; Gu, J.; Ye, Y.; Li, W.; Liao, Y.; Wang, R.; Ma, H.; Shao, X. The Diversity and Community Pattern of Liverworts on Sygera Mountain, Tibet. Forests2024, 15, 48.
Song, X.; Gu, J.; Ye, Y.; Li, W.; Liao, Y.; Wang, R.; Ma, H.; Shao, X. The Diversity and Community Pattern of Liverworts on Sygera Mountain, Tibet. Forests 2024, 15, 48.
Abstract
Elevation has been a cornerstone of biodiversity research, and changes in the environmental factors behind it influence biodiversity and community patterns. Exploring the potential reasons behind liverwort community patterns has been a matter of multiplied interest for ecologists. In the present study, we assessed the liverwort plants of the Sygera Mountain from 3100 m to 4500 m decaying wood, tree, soil, and rock using complex field surveys in 2017 and 2019, and investigated the effects of altitude and various climatic factors on the diversity and community composition of the Sygera Mountain. Also, we used including ANOVA, mixed effects modeling, NMDS, ANOSIM, and CCA, which helped to critically assess the liverwort diversity with respect to environmental variables. The results of the study showed a bimodal variation in the richness of liverwort communities with altitude, with peaks occurring at 3500 m and 4100 m. The variation with altitude was significant, with communities at 4100 m and 4300 m being associated with arid environments, and those at 3100 m and 3300 m favoring areas of higher mean annual temperatures and precipitation. Among the climatic factors, the variation in mean diurnal rang, precipitation, and annual temperature was found to be the determinant of liverwort communities. The results suggest that elevation and daily temperature fluctuations play a crucial role in the distribution and community structure formation of mountain liverwort plants. This study deepens our understanding of liverwort ecology and emphasizes the importance of climatic variables in determining plant community composition.
Keywords
liverwort; richness; elevation; Sygera Mountain; Tibet
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
