Research
Title: | SPATIOTEMPORAL ENVIRONMENTAL HETEROGENEITY OF ALPINE MICRO-WATERBODIES |
---|---|
First author: | Liu, Shuo-Ran; Lu, Tan; Yang, Dao-De; Ren, Guo-Peng; He, Xiao-Yang; Yang, Wen-Shu; Cai, Qing-Hua; Xiao, Wen |
Journal: | FRESENIUS ENVIRONMENTAL BULLETIN |
Years: | 2018 |
DOI: | |
Abstract: | Environmental heterogeneity is the main factor driving differences in biodiversity. Most previous studies concerning the environment-organism relationship have been conducted in large-scale areas (> 1 km(2)). This study is restricted to an extremely fine scale area in the cross-boundary area of the eastern Himalayas, mountains of southwest China, and Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. The results reveal high environmental heterogeneity in micro-waterbodies, even at a 1 m scale, and such high heterogeneity results in biodiversity hotspots in this aquatic ecosystem. This study also indicates that the watershed, rather than distance, is an appropriate unit for extremely fine-scale aquatic ecological research. |