Topography related spatial distribution of dominant tree species in a tropical seasonal rain forest in China

The degree to which variation in species distribution is predictable from topographic variation is of considerable current interest. In this paper, canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), linear regression and principal coordinates of neighbour matrices (PCNM) models were used to explain the variation in the distributions of the 13 dominant species in a 20-ha tropical rain-forest plot in China. The results showed that: (1) Tree distribution maps show that some species are mainly found in the gullies of the plot, whereas others occur on the slopes. Which indicates topographic variables are important factors for the distribution pattern of species. (2) Both linear regression and CCA results show that convexity and elevation are the most important variables effecting distribution of trees. For saplings, elevation, convexity and aspect explain 15.3%, 9.0% and 10.1% of the total variation of species abundance. For poles, elevation and convexity explain 19.3% and 11.4% respectively. However, only 5.3% of the total variation is explained for adults. (3) The PCNM results showed that topography alone explained 20%, 24% and 5% of the total variation of species abundance for saplings, poles and adults, respectively. Overall evidence for topographic control of the tropical tree distribution is strong, but the explanatory power of topographic variables was a small part of the total of variation.

► Topographic variables are important factors for the distribution pattern of trees in tropical seasonal rainforest in Xishuangbanna.
► Convexity and elevation are the most important variables effecting distribution of trees.
► Topography alone explained 20%, 24% and 5% of the total variation of species abundance for saplings, poles and adults, respectively.