Simulated geographic variations of plant species richness, evenness and abundance using climatic constraints on plant functional diversity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15549447 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Axel Kleidon (0000-0002-3798-0730, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, corresponding author), J M Adams (0000-0001-7954-8332, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey), Jonathan Adams (0000-0003-3890-4630), Ryan Pavlick (0000-0001-8772-3508, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry), Bjoern Reu |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 014007-014007 |
| Publication date | 2009-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/4/1/014007 |
| OpenAlex | W2083292884 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 17 |
Among the most pronounced large-scale geographic patterns of plant biodiversity are the increase in plant species richness towards the tropics, a more even distribution of the relative abundances of plant species in the tropics, and a nearly log-normal relative abundance distribution. Here we use an individual-based plant diversity model that relates climatic constraints to feasible plant growth strategies to show that all three basic diversity patterns can be predicted merely from the climatic constraints acting upon plant ecophysiological trade-offs. Our model predicts that towards objectively 'harsher' environments, the range of feasible growth strategies resulting in reproductive plants is reduced, thus resulting in lower functional plant species richness. The reduction of evenness is attributed to a more rapid decline in productivity from the most productive to less productive plant growth strategies since the particular setup of the strategy becomes more important in maintaining high productivity in harsher environments. This approach is also able to reproduce the increase in the deviation from a log-normal distribution towards more evenly distributed communities of the tropics. Our results imply that these general biodiversity relationships can be understood primarily by considering the climatic constraints on plant ecophysiological trade-offs
Abundance (ecology · Biodiversity · Biology · Distribution (mathematics · Plant community · Productivity · Range (aeronautics · Rank abundance curve · Relative abundance distribution · Relative species abundance · Species diversity · Species evenness · Species richness · Tropics · Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies · Mathematics · Plant and animal studies · Species Distribution and Climate Change · Ecology
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |