Understanding and protecting forest biodiversity in relation to species and local contributions to beta diversity

Beta diversity is an essential topic for understanding the spatial organization of species composition. By partitioning beta diversity into local contributions to beta diversity (LCBDs) and species contributions to beta diversity (SCBDs), this study can help to arrive at a more general and specific understanding of how beta diversity responds to environmental conditions and is affected by ecological and biological traits of species, which will provide useful advice for the conservation of forest biodiversity. In this study, we used data from a temperate near-mature forest in northeastern China. We used the method of beta regression to point out important factors affecting LCBD and SCBD. The results showed that LCBD was strongly related to species richness, abundance and abiotic environmental conditions, while SCBD was significantly affected by abundance and species niche characteristics. We conclude that our results are of considerable importance for the conservation of forest biodiversity and are of the opinion that these can provide detailed plans in conservation decision making.