Diversity of shrub species in a semiarid area of Central Mexico [Diversidad de especies arbustivas en una zona semiárida del centro de México]

The alpha diversity (true diversity) and beta diversity (turnover and nestedness) of shrub species were evaluated in the semiarid area of Hidalgo, Mexico. The importance value index of species was related to soil variables and climatic factors. We found 46 species from 21 families. Asteraceae and Fabaceae were the most important. The greatest number of effective species recorded was 7.8 and the smaller was 1.6. Beta diversity was high (0.9), mainly due to the turnover component (0.87) and to a lesser extent due to nestedness (0.38). Precipitation, nitrogen, pH and percentage of sand were the most important variables to explain the species distribution. These results agree with those reported in other semiarid areas. High regional diversity is due to a high species turnover generated by environmental heterogeneity that is displayed as a mosaic of conditions, both climatic and soil characteristics. © 2013 Hogrefe Publishing.

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