DOI: 10.5061/dryad.98sf7m0wr
title: Phylogenetic structure and β-diversity reveal assembly mechanisms of sub-alpine Abies forests in South Korea

description: Sub-alpine coniferous forest ecosystems are sensitive to climate change.
 However, the community formation mechanisms of sub-alpine coniferous
 forests in northeastern Asia remain poorly understood. In this study, we
 assessed the factors controlling the phylogenetic community structure in
 different strata (whole strata, upperstory, and understory) of Abies
 nephrolepis and Abies koreana forests in the sub-alpine zone in South
 Korea. Piecewise structural equation modeling (pSEM) was performed based
 on terrain, climate, taxonomic diversity, stand structure characteristics,
 and disturbance factors. The controlling factors presented different
 responses for each species depending on the stratum and phylogenetic
 community structure indices (net relatedness index and nearest taxon
 index). A. nephrolepis showed a unique community formation mechanism and
 formed climate refugia through high rock exposure, whereas A. koreana
 showed niche conservation at high elevations and a community
 overdispersion trend when forest gaps appeared due to overstory vegetation
 loss. The Mantel test and partial Mantel test were performed to examine
 the impact of turnover and nestedness on phylogenetic β-diversity, as well
 as to establish their correlations with climatic, geographic, and
 environmental distance. Turnover was a major contributing factor to
 β–diversity and strongly correlated with environmental distance. Further,
 geographical and climatic distance presented differential contributions to
 each species depending on the community characteristics. Integrated
 analyses of phylogenetic community structure and β-diversity provided
 detailed insights into the mechanisms underlying community formation and
 biodiversity patterns. This reveals that biodiversity patterns are driven
 by interactions between community structure and inter-community
 characteristics, with internal structure as a key mechanism influencing
 β-diversity.
description: # Phylogenetic structure and β-diversity reveal assembly mechanisms of
 sub-alpine Abies forests in South Korea
 Ecosphere_Dryad_occurence_species_file.zip contains the data we intend to
 share. The description of this file is as follows Species occurrence by
 forest strata in *Abies nephrolepis* and *Abies koreana* forests and
 supplementary materials **Brief summary** This dataset accompanies the
 main paper and compiles species-occurrence data by whole strata for *Abies
 nephrolepis* and *Abies koreana* forests in Korea. It includes
 stratum-level species lists and supplementary materials. We provide
 species, genus, and family information. **Description of the data and file
 structure** **Folder layout** Species occurrence data by forest strata *
 *Abies koreana*_Whole strata_occurrence species — Stratum-level species
 data for *A. koreana* plots * *Abies nephrolepis*_Whole strata_occurrence
 species — Stratum-level species data for *A. nephrolepis* plots
 **Sharing/Access information** * For materials beyond what is posted on
 Dryad, please contact the first or corresponding author: **First author:**
 Seung-Jae Lee, [ddpso123@knu.ac.kr](mailto:ddpso123@knu.ac.kr)\
 **Corresponding author:** Seung-Hwan Oh,
 [oshwan@knu.ac.kr](mailto:oshwan@knu.ac.kr)