Beta Diversity of Plant Communities in Relation to Soil C:N:P Stoichiometry across 150 Years of Vegetation Restoration in a Temperate Zone

Abstract

Natural solutions by which humans can overcome challenges have been severely hampered by biodiversity losses. It is essential to understand the key natural variables that influence changes in community diversity to maintain ecosystem function. The Ziwuling area has a natural recovery succession history of 150 years. Therefore, a survey was conducted to compare species composition characteristics across different vegetation recovery stages while also providing a phylogenetic and taxonomic response to the correlation between beta diversity and soil stoichiometry. The results showed that beta diversity and endemic plants had a similar single-peak temporal pattern. Soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation was significantly positively correlated with total nitrogen (TN) and was also negatively correlated with total phosphorus (TP). Overall, soil TN, time since vegetation restoration (TVR in years), and W-SS (endemic woody plants at each stage) were able to explain 94.3% of the total variation in beta diversity. Temperate species such as Carex lanceolata, Lespedeza bicolor, and Sophora davidii are the basis for community construction. Community beta diversity patterns are the result of a mixture of ecological (e.g., climate patterns and soil nutrients) and evolutionary processes. This study combined plant resource needs with how they respond to natural recovery times in order to provide useful knowledge to protect biodiversity, the nutrient cycle, and the function of restoration ecology.