Multi-scale environmental heterogeneity as a predictor of plant species richness |
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| Authors: | Jennifer K Costanza Aaron Moody Robert K Peet |
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| Institution: | (1) Curriculum for the Environment and Ecology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB#3275, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3275, USA;(2) Department of Biology, North Carolina State University, 127B David Clark Labs, Box 7617, Raleigh, NC 27695-7617, USA;(3) Department of Geography, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB#3220, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3220, USA;(4) Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB#3280, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3280, USA |
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| Abstract: | Ecological theory predicts a positive influence of local-, landscape-, and regional-scale spatial environmental heterogeneity
on local species richness. Therefore, knowing how heterogeneity measured at a variety of scales relates to local species richness
has important implications for conservation of biological diversity. We took a statistical modeling approach to determine
which metrics of heterogeneity measured at which scales were useful predictors of local species richness, and whether the
heterogeneity-local richness relationship was always positive. Local plant species richness data came from 400-m2 vegetation plots in North and South Carolina, USA. At each of four scales from within plots to across regions, we used either
GIS or field data to calculate measures of heterogeneity from abiotic environmental variables, vegetation productivity data,
and land cover classifications. Among all predictors at all scales, we found that no measure of heterogeneity was a better
predictor of local richness than mean pH within plots. However, at scales larger than within plots, measures of heterogeneity
were correlated most strongly with local richness, and each of the three classes of variables we used had a distinct scale
at which it performed better than the others. These results highlight the fact that ecological processes occurring across
multiple scales influence local species richness differently. In addition, relationships between heterogeneity and richness
were usually, though not always, positive, underscoring the importance of processes that occur at a variety of scales to local
biodiversity conservation and management. |
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