Niche and interspecific association of dominant arbor species in Quercus communities in the Qinling Mountains, China

作者：Ruizhi Huang, Qi Wang, Jingyi Sun, Yipei Zhao, Shaowei Yang, Wenfa Xiao, Jianfeng Liu · 发表于：Global Ecology and Conservation · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03404 · 被引用次数：5 · 研究领域：Ecology and Conservation Studies、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies

The study of niche characteristics, species interactions and community connectivity along elevation gradients contributes to the understanding of species' spatial interactions and distribution pattern, playing a significant role in revealing the species coexistence and the formation mechanisms of species distribution boundaries. In this study, fieldwork was conducted on the north and south slopes of Qinling Mountains, China, where the north subtropical and warm temperate zones divide. In this study, we conducted a field survey on five types of Quercus communities across six elevation sampling belts ranging from 900-2300 m (a.s.l) on the north and south slopes of Qinling Mountains. We analyzed the importance values, niche widths, niche overlaps, competition, interspecific associations of the three dominant Quercus species, as well as community connectivity. The richness of tree layer in the vicarious distribution of Quercus forests was relatively low. Pinus ( Pinus armandii and Pinus tabuliformis ) were the main associate species in the tree layer. The χ² test and Spearman analysis demonstrated a significant negative correlation between Pinus and Quercus . There were significant differences in the niche width of Quercus between the edge areas and core areas communities of their distribution, while the niche width of the three Quercus in the core area showed no significant differences. The niche overlap of dominant species on the both slopes were at a relatively low level, whil...