Predicting suitable distribution of dominant herbaceous plant functional groups in a forest-steppe zone, Hebei, China

doi:10.11686/cyxb2017192

Abstract

Abstract: Understanding the responses of herbaceous plant functional groups to environmental changes and their distribution pattern in a forest-steppe zone is helpful for clarifying the factors influencing different groups and for improving conservation strategies for herbaceous species diversity in the fragile landscape. A total of 184 sample plots (1 m×1 m) were established and assessed using a stratified random sampling design in the Saihanba Nature Reserve, Hebei. Herbaceous plant species were divided into C₃ and C₄ functional groups. Twenty environment factors related to topography and climate were obtained from the ClimateAP (Climate Asia-Pacific) model and by utilizing GIS (Geographic Information System) spatial analysis techniques. The ecological niche model (MaxEnt) was adopted in predicting the potential distribution of both C₃ and C₄ plant functional groups. Our results showed that the area under the receiver operating characteristics curves (AUC) for the C₃ and C₄ were all over 0.8, indicating that the MaxEnt model had good predictive performance. The C₃ functional group had a large potentially suitable distribution range, whereas the C₄ functional group had a relatively small distribution in the study area, accounting for 61.99% and 19.12% of the total area, respectively. The main environmental factors affecting the distribution of C₃ included: extreme maximum temperature, mean winter snow, degree-days above 5 ℃, mean annual temperature, and mean temperature of the coldest month. The main environmental factors affecting the distribution of C₄ species included: extreme maximum temperature, degree-days above 5 ℃, mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation, and mean winter snow. Accordingly, the results confirmed that C₃ species potentially occurred in cooler and wetter conditions, whereas C₄ species might tend to potentially occupy warmer and drier locations in the study area. The distribution range and area of C₄ herbaceous species will probably increase in response to global climate warming.

FAN Shun-xiang, ZHENG Jian-wei, WEI Shi-kai, HUANG Xuan-rui, ZHANG Zhi-dong. Predicting suitable distribution of dominant herbaceous plant functional groups in a forest-steppe zone, Hebei, China[J]. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 2018, 27(3): 24-32.

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