Figure 1.
Map of the study region, showing the vegetation zones and sampling sites.
Figure 2.
Species diversity of the steppe grassland in Inner Mongolia.
The data are presented for seven major steppe community types: Kle (Stipa klemenzii desert steppe), Bre (Stipa breviflora desert steppe), Kry (Stipa krylovii typical steppe), Chi.T (Leymus chinensis typical steppe), Gra (Stipa grandis typical steppe), Bai (Stipa baicalensis meadow steppe), Chi.M (Leymus chinensis meadow steppe); three steppe vegetation types: DS (desert steppe), TS (typical steppe), MS (meadow steppe); and the Inner Mongolia grassland as a whole (IMG). A: Proportion of α diversity (black), β nestedness diversity (βN) (white) and β replacement diversity (βR) (grey) in γ diversity; B: The trend of the proportion of α diversity (black dot), βN diversity (white dot) and βR diversity (grey dot) in γ diversity in the seven grassland types with the types ordered according to the annual mean precipitation of their distribution areas, with precipitation increase from left to right.
Table 1.
The environmental characteristics (mean annual precipitation MAP, mean annual temperature MAT, and major soil types) and species diversity composition (α, β and γ) of the seven steppe community types and of the three vegetation types in the Inner Mongolia grassland.
Figure 3.
Response of species diversity to precipitation (left column), and the sensitivity of species diversity of seven steppe community types to precipitation change (right column) in the Inner Mongolia grassland.
The sensitivity is represented by the regression slope of the linear regression of species diversity to precipitation within each steppe type. A: response of α diversity; B: sensitivity of α diversity; C: response of β diversity; D: sensitivity of β diversity; E: response of βN diversity; F: sensitivity of βN diversity; G: response of βR diversity; H: sensitivity of βR diversity; I: response of γ diversity; J: sensitivity of γ diversity.
Figure 4.
Relations of α diversity (A), β diversity (B) and occasional diversity (C) with γ diversity in the Inner Mongolia grassland.
The β diversity is complementary to α diversity in γ diversity, and the curve in (B) is derived as β = γ – α. D: response of occasional species diversity to mean annual precipitation.