Phylogenetic structure and influence of environmental factors on phylogenetic structure of plant community in Changbai Mountains

Previous researches in plant community ecology of Changbai Mountains rarely considered the relatedness of species.Community phylogenetic structure measured by species relative relationships reflects the influence of evolutionary and ecological processes on community structure.Studies on community phylogenetic structure provide new insights into the cause of community assembly.According to the 76 sample plots,community phylogenetic structure and influence of environmental factors on phylogenetic structure were studied in Changbai Mountains.The results shows that all of the sample plots and the community types show the phylogenetic structure,suggesting that community assembly of plant community is governed by the niche mechanism.Elevation,canopy density,slopes and humus thickness are significantly correlated with phylogenetic structure.We also conduct the analysis with combination of community phylogenetic structure with the distribution of environmental factors.The results suggest that environment stress,one form of habitat filtering,is the main driver of community assembly in the alpine tundra and Subalpine birch forest.Disturbance and environmental stress play an important role in community assembly of low-elevation deciduous broad-leaved forest.Competition whose effects are amplified due to lack of environmental stress becomes the major factor in structing the broad-leaved korean pine mixed forest.