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Explanation of elevational patterns of amphibian and reptile species richness in the Baishuijiang Nature Reserve: Waterenergy dynamic hypothesis and habitat heterogeneity hypothesis.

ZHENG Zhi1, GONG Da-jie1**, ZHANG Qian2   

  1. (1College of Life Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China; 2College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University,  Lanzhou 730070, China)
  • Online:2014-12-10 Published:2014-12-10

Abstract: Water-energy dynamic hypothesis and habitat heterogeneity hypothesis were used to explain elevational patterns of amphibian and reptile species richness in the Baishuijiang Natural Reserve by employing the methods of linear regression models and variation partitioning analysis. The results showed that the explanatory power of water-energy dynamic hypothesis was stronger for shaping the patterns of amphibian and reptile species richness in the Baishuijiang Natural Reserve, and there existed a stronger collinearity between water-energy dynamic hypothesis and habitat heterogeneity hypothesis. The variable mean annual rainfall (PAN) was included in the final linear regression model of amphibian species richness elevational pattern, but not in that of reptile species richness elevational pattern. However, the variables, potential evapotranspiration (PET) and PET2, were included in the final linear regression model of reptile species elevational pattern. These results suggested that water and temperature played an important role in shaping the elevational patterns of amphibians and reptiles, respectively. The consequence of variation partitioning analysis showed that the independent exploratory power for shaping the elevational pattern of amphibian and reptile richness was weak, while that of waterenergy dynamic hypothesis was powerful for the pattern. For the largerange species, the exploratory powers of two hypotheses were weak because of the boundary constraint effect.

Key words: time series trajectory, grassland open-cast coal mine, NDVI, spatial and temporal dynamics