Altitudinal Patterns of Species Diversity and Phylogenetic Diversity across Temperate Mountain Forests of Northern China

Plant diversity and phylogenetic structure vary distinctly along elevation gradients on Mount Tai and Mount Lao, revealing complex patterns driven by environmental factors. Total species richness decreases monotonically with altitude, while tree richness follows a unimodal pattern. Shrub and herb richness show inconsistent trends between the two mountains, with anthropogenic disturbances increasing understory diversity at low elevations. Phylogenetic structure on Mount Tai exhibits an inverted hump-shaped pattern, suggesting environmental filtering dominates at high and low elevations, whereas competition drives middle-elevation assembly. Mount Lao's milder climate obscures clear phylogenetic patterns. Both phylogenetic and species beta diversity increase with altitudinal divergence, but these do not fully mirror species richness patterns. Conservation efforts should prioritize areas balancing high species richness and phylogenetic diversity to enhance future diversification potential.

Zhang, W., Huang, D., Wang, R., Liu, J., & Du, N. (2016). Altitudinal Patterns of Species Diversity and Phylogenetic Diversity across Temperate Mountain Forests of Northern China. Plos One, 11(7), e0159995. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159995