Habitat is more important than climate and animal richness at shaping latitudinal variation in plant diversity in China

Species data from 249 National Nature Reserves in China were used to identify potential underlying drivers of latitudinal gradients in plant diversity. We used generalized linear models to assess correlations between predictor and plant species richness. Variance partitioning was then used to decompose the variation in plant richness into different taxonomic levels among the three groups of predictors (i.e., climate, habitat and animal). We found that species richness showed significant latitudinal trends in richness (p < 0.001). This remained true when examining gymnosperms, angiosperms and ferns individually. Climate and habitat variables explained more variation in richness across different plant groups than did animal richness. Annual precipitation was the best climate variable across different taxonomic plants groups, and soil pH and elevation range were the best habitat variables across different taxonomic plant groups. The independent effects of habitat variables were higher than that of climate and animal variables across different taxonomic plant groups. Finally, climate, habitat heterogeneity, and animal richness explain 48.8% of the variation in total species richness, 28.2% in gymnosperm richness, 44.2% in angiosperm richness, and 38.9% in fern richness.