Karst tiankengs as refugia for indigenous tree flora amidst a degraded landscape in southwestern China

Abstract We conducted floristic and community analyses to compare the floristic composition, forest structure, taxonomic richness, and species diversity between two tiankeng (large doline, or sinkhole) habitats and two outside-tiankeng habitats of forest fragments in a degraded karst area in southwe...

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Autores principales:	Yuqiao Su, Qiming Tang, Fuyan Mo, Yuegui Xue
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/4d006f50f63742b3b188b7a6c807bf64
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:4d006f50f63742b3b188b7a6c807bf642021-12-02T11:52:16ZKarst tiankengs as refugia for indigenous tree flora amidst a degraded landscape in southwestern China10.1038/s41598-017-04592-x2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/4d006f50f63742b3b188b7a6c807bf642017-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-04592-xhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract We conducted floristic and community analyses to compare the floristic composition, forest structure, taxonomic richness, and species diversity between two tiankeng (large doline, or sinkhole) habitats and two outside-tiankeng habitats of forest fragments in a degraded karst area in southwestern China. We found remarkably higher taxonomic richness in the tiankeng habitats than in the outside-tiankeng habitats at the species, generic, and familial levels. The inside-tiankeng habitats had higher floristic diversity but lower dominance. The remarkably higher uniqueness at all taxonomic levels and the much larger tree size in the two tiankeng habitats than in the outside-tiankeng habitats demonstrated the old-growth and isolated nature of the tiankeng flora. Plot-scale species richness, Shannon-Wiener index, Pielou’s evenness, and Berger-Parker dominance significantly differed across habitats. Heterogeneity in floristic composition at the species, generic, and familial levels was extremely significant across habitats. In pairwise comparisons, except for the Chuandong Tiankeng-Shenmu Tiankeng pair, all the pairs showed significant between-habitat heterogeneity in floristic composition. Our results suggest that as oases amidst the degraded karst landscape, tiankengs serve as modern refugia that preserve old-growth forest communities with their rich floristic diversity, and can provide a model for habitat conservation and forest restoration in that area.Yuqiao SuQiming TangFuyan MoYuegui XueNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Yuqiao Su Qiming Tang Fuyan Mo Yuegui Xue Karst tiankengs as refugia for indigenous tree flora amidst a degraded landscape in southwestern China
description	Abstract We conducted floristic and community analyses to compare the floristic composition, forest structure, taxonomic richness, and species diversity between two tiankeng (large doline, or sinkhole) habitats and two outside-tiankeng habitats of forest fragments in a degraded karst area in southwestern China. We found remarkably higher taxonomic richness in the tiankeng habitats than in the outside-tiankeng habitats at the species, generic, and familial levels. The inside-tiankeng habitats had higher floristic diversity but lower dominance. The remarkably higher uniqueness at all taxonomic levels and the much larger tree size in the two tiankeng habitats than in the outside-tiankeng habitats demonstrated the old-growth and isolated nature of the tiankeng flora. Plot-scale species richness, Shannon-Wiener index, Pielou’s evenness, and Berger-Parker dominance significantly differed across habitats. Heterogeneity in floristic composition at the species, generic, and familial levels was extremely significant across habitats. In pairwise comparisons, except for the Chuandong Tiankeng-Shenmu Tiankeng pair, all the pairs showed significant between-habitat heterogeneity in floristic composition. Our results suggest that as oases amidst the degraded karst landscape, tiankengs serve as modern refugia that preserve old-growth forest communities with their rich floristic diversity, and can provide a model for habitat conservation and forest restoration in that area.
format	article
author	Yuqiao Su Qiming Tang Fuyan Mo Yuegui Xue
author_facet	Yuqiao Su Qiming Tang Fuyan Mo Yuegui Xue
author_sort	Yuqiao Su
title	Karst tiankengs as refugia for indigenous tree flora amidst a degraded landscape in southwestern China
title_short	Karst tiankengs as refugia for indigenous tree flora amidst a degraded landscape in southwestern China
title_full	Karst tiankengs as refugia for indigenous tree flora amidst a degraded landscape in southwestern China
title_fullStr	Karst tiankengs as refugia for indigenous tree flora amidst a degraded landscape in southwestern China
title_full_unstemmed	Karst tiankengs as refugia for indigenous tree flora amidst a degraded landscape in southwestern China
title_sort	karst tiankengs as refugia for indigenous tree flora amidst a degraded landscape in southwestern china
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/4d006f50f63742b3b188b7a6c807bf64
work_keys_str_mv	AT yuqiaosu karsttiankengsasrefugiaforindigenoustreefloraamidstadegradedlandscapeinsouthwesternchina AT qimingtang karsttiankengsasrefugiaforindigenoustreefloraamidstadegradedlandscapeinsouthwesternchina AT fuyanmo karsttiankengsasrefugiaforindigenoustreefloraamidstadegradedlandscapeinsouthwesternchina AT yueguixue karsttiankengsasrefugiaforindigenoustreefloraamidstadegradedlandscapeinsouthwesternchina
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Karst tiankengs as refugia for indigenous tree flora amidst a degraded landscape in southwestern China

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