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Beta-Nestedness and Turnover Reveal Drivers of Community Assembly in a Regenerating sub-Tropical Forest
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  • Coskun Guclu,
  • Chung-Lim Luk,
  • Michael Boyle,
  • Louise Ashton,
  • Sawaid Abbas
Coskun Guclu
The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Science

Corresponding Author:coskun.guclu@gmail.com

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Chung-Lim Luk
The University of Hong Kong
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Michael Boyle
The University of Hong Kong

Corresponding Author:mjwboyle@hku.hk

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Louise Ashton
University of Hong Kong
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Sawaid Abbas
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
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Abstract

Secondary forests represent significant proportions of global forest cover, with over 65% of forests in Asia classified as regenerating. While succession has been studied extensively in temperate systems, trajectories of sub-tropical forest succession remain poorly characterized in highly disturbed, urban-adjacent forests. Investigating the additive beta diversity subcomponents of Turnover and Nestedness may reveal community assembly mechanisms driving secondary succession. The present study investigated plant community assembly along a successional gradient from 7 to 70 years following the onset of succession in secondary sub-tropical forests in Hong Kong. Plant survey data for 28 plots were analysed, generating additive Simpsons and Nestedness beta diversity metrics as subcomponents of Sorenson Beta Diversity. Dissimilarity matrices were generated and modelled as a function of transformed environmental matrices of forest plant community age (years following onset of secondary succession), elevation (metres), inter-community distance (metres), soil moisture saturation (%) and soil organic carbon (g kg-1). Generalized dissimilarity models were generated for plant species Turnover and Nestedness. Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling of plant communities was conducted with Bray-Curtis dissimilarity matrices. Our findings indicate that elevation was the primary driver of plant species Turnover, while age and inter-community distance played less prominent roles. Models of Nestedness found that plot age and soil moisture saturation were the sole drivers of Nestedness patterns in plant communities. While models of Turnover were robust, the low explanatory power of Nestedness models suggest additional unobserved factors driving patterns of plant community Nestedness during secondary succession. Turnover patterns suggest a deterministic model of community assembly, with strong patterns of species replacement between Lowland and Montaine forest types, as well as between successional age classes.
19 Jul 2023Submitted to Ecology and Evolution
04 Apr 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
04 Apr 2024Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
05 Jun 20241st Revision Received
23 Jul 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
24 Jul 2024Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
06 Aug 20242nd Revision Received
08 Aug 2024Submission Checks Completed
08 Aug 2024Assigned to Editor
08 Aug 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
14 Aug 2024Editorial Decision: Accept