The Impact of Modern Species Coexistence Patterns on the Stability of Alpine Meadow Ecosystems across Varying Aspects and Slopes

The Impact of Modern Species Coexistence Patterns on the Stability of Alpine Meadow Ecosystems across Varying Aspects and Slopes | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article The Impact of Modern Species Coexistence Patterns on the Stability of Alpine Meadow Ecosystems across Varying Aspects and Slopes Xiaotong Gong, Buqing Yao, Yongxiao Li, Li Ma, Guangyuan Zhang, and 7 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7574247/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Context. Modern species coexistence patterns are known to affect the stability of plant communities; however, the ways in which these patterns influence community stability across different slope aspects and slopes remain unclear. Objectives. We assess the average fitness difference (AFD) and niche difference (ND) within the of modern species coexistence framework, focusing on how these patterns influence community primary productivity stability (PS) and species stability (SS). Methods. We conduct community surveys at different slopes in Maqin County, Qinghai Province, China, in different slope directions. The AFD and ND are measured by community characteristics and lineage diversity, and the stability of communities is evaluated by spatial differences. Results. There was no significant variation in AFD across different slope aspects; however, ND significantly differed, with the northern and western slopes having the highest and lowest values, respectively. PS did not significantly differ across slope aspects; nevertheless, SS significantly differed, with the western and northern slopes having the highest values and the eastern slopes having the lowest. No significant differences were found in species coexistence patterns or community stability across slope gradients. Variance partitioning analysis indicated that only western slope ND contributed to the regulation of community stability (PS and SS). Conclusions. Overall, the slope aspect of alpine meadows influenced the ND in species coexistence patterns, and ND exhibited aspect-dependent regulation of community stability. These findings provide scientific evidence informing the conservation of species diversity and sustainability in alpine meadow ecosystems across various terrains. Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Slope aspect Species coexistence Niche difference Average fitness difference Community stability Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7574247","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":515874129,"identity":"787e2797-6346-4c06-a338-5b61d4493040","order_by":0,"name":"Xiaotong Gong","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"College of Ecological and Environmental Engineering, Qinghai University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiaotong","middleName":"","lastName":"Gong","suffix":""},{"id":515874130,"identity":"0cb95e29-3185-4c67-b635-d7e8f1359b8a","order_by":1,"name":"Buqing Yao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Northwest Institute of 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Slopes","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, Slope aspect, Species coexistence, Niche difference, Average fitness difference, Community stability","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7574247/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7574247/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eContext.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eModern species coexistence patterns are known to affect the stability of plant communities; however, the ways in which these patterns influence community stability across different slope aspects and slopes remain unclear.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eObjectives.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe assess the average fitness difference (AFD) and niche difference (ND) within the of modern species coexistence framework, focusing on how these patterns influence community primary productivity stability (PS) and species stability (SS).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMethods.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe conduct community surveys at different slopes in Maqin County, Qinghai Province, China, in different slope directions. The AFD and ND are measured by community characteristics and lineage diversity, and the stability of communities is evaluated by spatial differences.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eResults.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was no significant variation in AFD across different slope aspects; however, ND significantly differed, with the northern and western slopes having the highest and lowest values, respectively. PS did not significantly differ across slope aspects; nevertheless, SS significantly differed, with the western and northern slopes having the highest values and the eastern slopes having the lowest. No significant differences were found in species coexistence patterns or community stability across slope gradients. Variance partitioning analysis indicated that only western slope ND contributed to the regulation of community stability (PS and SS).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConclusions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOverall, the slope aspect of alpine meadows influenced the ND in species coexistence patterns, and ND exhibited aspect-dependent regulation of community stability. These findings provide scientific evidence informing the conservation of species diversity and sustainability in alpine meadow ecosystems across various terrains.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"The Impact of Modern Species Coexistence Patterns on the Stability of Alpine Meadow Ecosystems across Varying Aspects and Slopes","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-09-22 07:15:58","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7574247/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"0ac51c60-b087-49fe-aad7-8fcccac096a0","owner":[],"postedDate":"September 22nd, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-10-28T22:53:26+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-09-22 07:15:58","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7574247","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7574247","identity":"rs-7574247","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}