Spatio-temporal patterns of anuran functional diversity in temperate montane forests

Exploring the spatio-temporal patterns of biological diversity is important to understand the species coexistence mechanisms and community assembly rules. This is especially true for functional diversity, which was considered to be more integrative to better understand biodiversity across space and time. In the present study, Tianping Mountain was selected as the study area to investigate the spatio-temporal patterns (i.e., elevational and seasonal) of anuran functional diversity, as well as its environmental determinants. Specifically, ten transects were selected from low to high elevations, and anuran communities were sampled in spring, early summer, midsummer, and Autumn, 2017, respectively. Four functional diversity indices were computed for each transect in each season using eco-morphological functional traits. First, we found that there was an inverse bell shape relationship between functional richness and elevations. Functional evenness exhibited a hump-shape response to the increasing of elevations. In addition, functional divergence and functional specialization increased significantly along an elevational gradient. In terms of the temporal patterns, these indices were not significantly different between seasons. Finally, we found that each index was determined by distinct environmental variables, such as leaf litter cover, water temperature, tree number, and water conductivity. Overall, our results demonstrated the unique patterns of anuran functional diversity in temperate montane forests, providing valuable results to understand the general patterns of anuran diversity on mountains. Importantly, these findings highlighted the importance of microhabitat features in maintaining anuran diversity. Future work should assess how these unique patterns can affect food webs and ecosystem functioning in temperate montane forests.