4.7 Article

-Impact of multiple environmental factors on species abundance in various forest layers using an integrative modeling approach

期刊

GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
卷 29, 期 -, 页码 -

出版社

ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01712

关键词

Forest ecosystem; Structural equation modeling; Species dominance; Soil nutrients; Climatic factors; Topography

资金

  1. TuBITAK (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) grant, Turkey
  2. Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan
  3. King Khalid University [R.G.P. 1/25/42]

向作者/读者索取更多资源

The study assessed plant diversity, abundance and their relationships with multiple factors in the Humid Forest Ecosystem of the Western Himalayas. The integrative modeling approach showed that species abundance is significantly influenced by soil nutrients, topography, and disturbance factors. Edaphic factors were found to cause variations in the abundance of certain plant species over others.
It was hypothesized that multiple environmental factors influence distribution and abundance of plant species in different vegetation layers of the forest ecosystem=. Here, we have assessed plant diversity, abundance and its relationship with multiple factors through an integrative modeling approach. To substantiate or negate our hypothesis, Quadrat quantitative ecological methods were carried out for the sampling of vegetation in Humid Forest Ecosystem of the Western Himalayas. Rectangular plots of 100 m, 50 m and 1 m were established for trees, shrubs and herb species, respectively. All the edaphic, topographic, climatic and disturbance factors were determined using different standard procedures and protocols. We have applied multiple linear regression and structural equation models using R-Software on most abundant plant species each from trees, shrubs and herbs. Preliminary, integrative modeling showed that the species abundance is significantly associated with a set of soil nutrients (physio-chemical variables), topography (aspect, slope, elevation) and disturbance factors (anthropogenic and grazing pressure). The species dominance effects were synchronously influenced (p<0.025) by the soil physical characters (sand, silt and clay), canopy and regeneration potentials compared to other factors. Our results provide bases to understand the underlying mechanisms of species abundance and its importance of the forest ecosystem in the western Himalayas. This work concludes that ecological diversity is overall the result of multiple factors but climatic, topographic, anthropogenic and grazing pressures primarily shape the diversity and functioning in a forest ecosystem. Additionally, we found a clear pattern that variations in edaphic factors cause the abundance of certain species over others.

作者

我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。

评论

主要评分

4.7
评分不足

次要评分

新颖性
-
重要性
-
科学严谨性
-
评价这篇论文

推荐

暂无数据
暂无数据