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| Community structure is the focus of community ecology. Comparing the relative contribution of environmental and spatial variables on species composition is essential to understand the process of community assembly. In this study, we explored that the effects of regional spatial scale, local spatial scale and environmental variables on the species composition of meadow and steppe on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. The results showed that environmental, regional and local spatial scale variables had significant effects on meadows and their functional groups, and the explanation of local spatial variables was relatively high. And the regional spatial scale variable had a significant effect on the species composition of the steppes and their functional groups. In addition, the total explanation of environmental and spatial variables accounted the highest for the legume groups species composition at the sample sites. And the sum of the explanation of impact factors on meadow functional groups was not equal to the effect on meadow species composition, and the same phenomenon in the steppe. The results demonstrated that environmental and spatial variables and the division of functional groups could fully detect and explain the species composition of community on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. |
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| Keywords:regional spatial scale variable, local spatial scale variable, environmental variable, species composition |
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