The Diversity and Community Assembly Process of Wetland Plants from Lakeshores on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Unravelling the patterns, potential processes and mechanisms underlying biodiversity has always been a crucial issue in community ecology. It is also a necessary first step for any conservation and restoration to better adapt fragile ecosystems to a changing climate. However, little is known regarding the structure and maintenance of plant communities in typical high-altitude wetlands. Here, we made a comprehensive analysis of the diversity and composition of wetland plant communities based on the distribution of plants near the shorelines of 19 lakes across the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The latitude, mean annual temperature (MAT) and mean annual precipitation (MAP), along with the edaphic properties, were the dominant predictors affecting the taxonomic and phylogenetic alpha-diversity. Besides diversification, ecological drift, mixing with weak dispersal and weak selection shaped the community composition of wetland plants in our study. The latitude and MAP predictors, although modest, showed an impact on the community structure.

Automated summary

Through studying the diversity and composition of wetland plant communities, it was found that latitude, mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation, and edaphic properties are the main factors influencing plant diversity. In addition, ecological drift, weak dispersal, and weak selection also play a role in shaping the composition of wetland plant communities.