近日，中科院华南植物园科学家揭示了全球生物多样性沿海拔变化格局。研究结果日前发表于《自然》子刊《科学—报告》。
据介绍，该植物园生态及环境科学研究中心研究员任海带领两位学生与美国农业部林业署研究员郭勤峰等合作，收集了全球443篇关于生物多样性沿海拔梯度变化的论文，在全球尺度上分南半球和北半球对生物多样性沿海拔梯度变化的格局进行了研究。
结果发现，大多数地点山腰稍低的部位生物多样性最高。山越高，其植物、动物和微生物等类群沿海拔变化的单峰曲线越相近。虽然南半球与北半球的生物多样性沿海拔变化格局相似，但也有些不同，正是这些不同反映了两个半球上陆地和山区配置的不同。植物、动物和微生物等不同类群在不同海拔出现多样性峰值则表明了物理环境和生物自身因素的限制作用。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推荐的英文摘要
Scientific Reports doi:10.1038/srep03007
Global variation in elevational diversity patterns
Qinfeng Guo,Douglas A. Kelt,Zhongyu Sun,Hongxiao Liu,Liangjun Hu,Hai Ren & Jun Wen
While horizontal gradients of biodiversity have been examined extensively in the past, vertical diversity gradients (elevation, water depth) are attracting increasing attention. We compiled data from 443 elevational gradients involving diverse organisms worldwide to investigate how elevational diversity patterns may vary between the Northern and Southern hemispheres and across latitudes. Our results show that most elevational diversity curves are positively skewed (maximum diversity below the middle of the gradient) and the elevation of the peak in diversity increases with the elevation of lower sampling limits and to a lesser extent with upper limit. Mountains with greater elevational extents, and taxonomic groups that are more inclusive, show proportionally more unimodal patterns whereas other ranges and taxa show highly variable gradients. The two hemispheres share some interesting similarities but also remarkable differences, likely reflecting differences in landmass and mountain configurations. Different taxonomic groups exhibit diversity peaks at different elevations, probably reflecting both physical and physiological constraints.
