Beta-diversity, or the spatio-temporal variation in community composition, can be decomposed into turnover and nestedness components in a multidimensional framework. Numerous studies have investigated how forest structure controls multidimensional alpha-diversity patterns. However, its role in beta-diversity and its two complementary components remain to be investigated.

In a study published in Ecology and Evolution, researchers from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences sought to disentangle the effects of forest structure, topography, and spatial structure on multidimensional beta-diversity (i.e., taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic) and its turnover and nestedness components at local and regional scales in a Chinese subtropical evergreen broadleaf forest.

The researchers used datasets collected from inventory plots a 20-ha forest dynamics plot and a plot network consisting of 19 1-ha plots) and both unmanned aerial vehicle light detection and ranging (UAV LiDAR) technology to quantify forest structure across local and regional scales.

Adopting a multidimensional and multiple-scale perspective, they used integrated forest structure to explain beta-diversity and its component patterns and then explored the drivers of these patterns.

They found that turnover (i.e., changes in species identities and functional and phylogenetic attributes between sites) was generally more common than loss or gain of species and their functional and phylogenetic attributes (i.e., nestedness) at both the local and regional scales.

Compared to the regional scale, there was greater similarity and less turnover in the taxonomic dimension at the local scale. Environmental factors (i.e., topography and forest structure) tended to show stronger spatial autocorrelation at the local scale.

The joint effects of spatial structure and forest structure influenced component patterns in all dimensions (except for functional turnover) to some extent at the local scale, while forest structure alone influenced taxonomic and phylogenetic nestedness patterns to some extent at the regional scale.

"Our results highlight the importance and scale dependence of forest structure in shaping multidimensional beta-diversity and its component patterns," said LIN Luxiang of XTBG.