Two-dimensional pattern analysis on dominant species and community in subalpine meadow of Luya Mountain, Shanxi Province, China

Abstract

The spatial pattern analysis of population and community is important to understand community structure and has become one key topic in modern plant ecology. There are many techniques for analyzing one-dimensional pattern in ecological literature. Two-dimensional pattern analysis is better than one-dimensional analysis in the study on community spatial characteristics and structure. However, it is hard to analyze these two-dimensional patterns due to poor effective methodology. The two-dimensional sampling using two transects that meet at right angles was applied to get quadrat data in this work. And then the data from the two transects were analyzed separately by one-dimensional pattern analysis method, two-term local quadrat variance. The length, width, and area of patches at different scales of pattern for populations were obtained from the analysis. For community pattern, detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) was employed to summarize the species information firstly, and then the first DCA axis scores were analyzed to check its pattern. The application of this method to the pattern analysis on dominant populations and community for subalpine meadow (Comm. Polygonum viviparum + Carex rigescens + Kobresia bellardii) in the Luya mountains showed that it could release the characteristics of spatial pattern clearly and was a very effective technique. The method is easy to use and saves time with obvious advantages, compared with the two-dimensional pattern analysis methods presented in the literatures. In the study meadow, the patterns of the main dominant species, Polygonum viviparum, Carex rigescens, and Kobresia bellardii, were apparent and comparatively regular in shape with large areas of patches at the same scale compared with other species such as Festuca sp. and Thalictrum petaloideum. There were two or three scales of patterns for each plant population studied. This was related to population features, the interaction with environmental factors, and their dominant position in the community. The two scales of patterns for the meadow community were clear. The pattern of community was closely correlated with that of the main dominant species. The patches of dominant species were inter-distributed and overlapped, and formed the community pattern together. This is beneficial for utilization of resources, and keeping the community stable.