Different responses of alpine plants to natural climate change reduced coexistence through phenological niche overlap.

Plant phenology is the bridge between climate change and ecosystem functions. Time coordination of interspecific and intraspecific phenology changes overlap or separate can be regarded as an important characteristic of species coexistence. To confirm the hypothesis that plant phenological niche promotes species coexistence, three key alpine plants, Kobresia humilis (sedge), Stipa purpurea (grass), and Astragalus laxmannii (forb) were investigated in this study in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Not the expected poleward migration: Impact of climate change scenarios on the distribution of two endemic evergreen broad-leaved Quercus species in China.

One of the key strategies for species to respond to climate change is range shift. It is commonly believed that species will migrate towards the poles and higher elevations due to climate change. However, some species may also shift in opposite directions (i.

Regional disparity in extinction risk: Comparison of disjunct plant genera between eastern Asia and eastern North America.

Climate and land cover changes are increasing threats to biodiversity globally. However, potentially varying biotic sensitivity is a major source of uncertainty for translating environmental changes to extinction risks. To reduce this uncertainty, we assessed how extinction risks will be affected by future human-driven environmental changes, focusing on 554 species from 52 disjunct plant genera between eastern Asia (EAS) and eastern North America (ENA) to control for differences in environmental sensitivity at the genus level.

Investigating distribution pattern of species in a warm-temperate conifer-broadleaved-mixed forest in China for sustainably utilizing forest and soils.

The maintaining mechanisms and potential ecological processes of species diversity in warm temperate- conifer-broadleaved-mixed forest are far from clear understanding. In this paper, the relative neighborhood density Ω was used to analyze the spatial distribution patterns of 34 species with ≥11 individuals in a warm- temperate-conifer-broadleaved-mixed forest, northern China. Then we used canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and Torus-translation test (TTT) to explain the distribution of observed species.

[Species composition and community structure of a spruce-fir forest and a larch forest on the northern slope of Changbai Mountains, Northeast China].

Spruce-fir forest is the best protected forest vegetation, while larch forest is intrazonal vegetation on the northern slope of Changbai Mountains. To further understand their species composition and community structure, we established a 4 hm2 forest permanent plot in each of these two forests in 2010. All free-standing plant species with DBH (diameter at breast height) ≥ 1 cm were mapped, tagged, and identified to species.

[Woody plant species composition and community structure in residual fragments of broad-leaved Korean pine mixed forests in Changbai Mountains area].

The broad-leaved Korean pine mixed forest represents the typical vegetation type of the eastern mountain area in Northeast China. However, due to the interference of human activities, the natural broad-leaved Korean pine forest only distributes in some residual fragments with unequal areas in Changbai Mountains and Small Hinggan Mountains. To compare and analyze the similarities and differences of broad-leaved Korean pine mixed forests in the different areas, we established six forest plots following the field protocol of the 50 hm2 forest plot in Panama (Barro Colorado Island, BCI) in 2012 in Changbai Mountain National Nature Reserve in Jilin Province and the eastern mountain area in Liaoning Province.