Vulnerability assessments of moorland plant communities to global environmental changes

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I demonstrated the nested subset pattern of moorland plant communities in the study area. Selective environmental tolerances imposed by environmental harshness and selective extinction caused by declines in the carrying capacities of sites probably accounted for the nested pattern. The nested rank of species in the nestedness matrix can therefore be translated into a potential scenario of species loss under future environmental changes. Finally, I provided the fine-scale assessments of vulnerability of moorland plant communities to species loss which is likely to occur under future environmental changes by simulating the consequences of realistic species loss for functional diversity. The knowledge from this study is precautionary but urgently needed information supporting prioritization and decision-making when we act to conserve ecosystems in the face of global biodiversity loss.