SPATIOTEMPORAL ENVIRONMENTAL HETEROGENEITY OF ALPINE MICRO-WATERBODIES

摘要

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 km2). This study is restricted to an extremely finescale area in the cross-boundary area of the eastern Himalayas, mountains of southwest China, and IndoBurma 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.