Illustration showing the relationship between plant species richness and elevation across three Himalayan sites and their combined pattern. The top panel depicts a stylized mountain range labeled with a legend for “Mid-Domain Effect” (gray dashed line) and “Species Richness” (solid blue line). Below, four small plots display species richness versus elevation for: (1) Morni Hills (300–1500 m, yellow), showing a unimodal increase and decline in richness; (2) Chail Wildlife Sanctuary (900–2100 m, green), showing a similar mid-elevation peak; (3) Churdhar Wildlife Sanctuary (1600–3600 m, pink), showing a gradual decline with elevation; and (4) all sites combined (300–3600 m, blue), showing a pronounced hump-shaped richness pattern centered at mid-elevations. The gray dashed curves represent predicted richness from the mid-domain effect, with shaded confidence bands.
Illustration showing the relationship between plant species richness and elevation across three Himalayan sites and their combined pattern. The top panel depicts a stylized mountain range labeled with a legend for “Mid-Domain Effect” (gray dashed line) and “Species Richness” (solid blue line). Below, four small plots display species richness versus elevation for: (1) Morni Hills (300–1500 m, yellow), showing a unimodal increase and decline in richness; (2) Chail Wildlife Sanctuary (900–2100 m, green), showing a similar mid-elevation peak; (3) Churdhar Wildlife Sanctuary (1600–3600 m, pink), showing a gradual decline with elevation; and (4) all sites combined (300–3600 m, blue), showing a pronounced hump-shaped richness pattern centered at mid-elevations. The gray dashed curves represent predicted richness from the mid-domain effect, with shaded confidence bands.
Map showing the locations of three study sites—Morni Hills, Chail Wildlife Sanctuary, and Churdhar Wildlife Sanctuary—across the northwestern Himalayas. The main map depicts topography with shaded elevation ranging from 0 to 4000 meters, where darker shades represent higher elevations. The study sites are outlined in green, with Morni Hills located in Haryana, and Chail and Churdhar in Himachal Pradesh. Surrounding districts, including Panchkula, Sirmaur, Solan, Shimla, and SAS Nagar, are labeled. An inset map in the upper left corner shows the broader regional context within northern India, highlighting the states and union territories of Punjab (PB), Haryana (HR), Himachal Pradesh (HP), Uttarakhand (UK), Jammu and Kashmir (JK), and Ladakh (LA), with a red box indicating the study area’s location. A north arrow and scale bar (0–10 km) are included for orientation.
Map showing the locations of three study sites—Morni Hills, Chail Wildlife Sanctuary, and Churdhar Wildlife Sanctuary—across the northwestern Himalayas. The main map depicts topography with shaded elevation ranging from 0 to 4000 meters, where darker shades represent higher elevations. The study sites are outlined in green, with Morni Hills located in Haryana, and Chail and Churdhar in Himachal Pradesh. Surrounding districts, including Panchkula, Sirmaur, Solan, Shimla, and SAS Nagar, are labeled. An inset map in the upper left corner shows the broader regional context within northern India, highlighting the states and union territories of Punjab (PB), Haryana (HR), Himachal Pradesh (HP), Uttarakhand (UK), Jammu and Kashmir (JK), and Ladakh (LA), with a red box indicating the study area’s location. A north arrow and scale bar (0–10 km) are included for orientation.
Four-panel figure showing relationships between plant species richness and elevation across three Himalayan sites and their combined dataset. Each panel displays observed species richness (colored circles with solid fitted lines) compared with predicted values from the mid-domain effect (gray dashed lines with shaded confidence bands).
(a) Morni Hills (yellow): species richness increases with elevation and peaks near mid-elevations (~900 m) before declining.
(b) Chail Wildlife Sanctuary (green): species richness peaks around 1500 m with a hump-shaped pattern.
(c) Churdhar Wildlife Sanctuary (pink): species richness declines steadily with elevation from ~1600 m to 3500 m.
(d) All sites combined (blue): a pronounced unimodal, mid-elevation peak in richness around 1200–1500 m.
Gray dashed lines represent mid-domain effect predictions, and shaded regions indicate uncertainty.
Four-panel figure showing relationships between plant species richness and elevation across three Himalayan sites and their combined dataset. Each panel displays observed species richness (colored circles with solid fitted lines) compared with predicted values from the mid-domain effect (gray dashed lines with shaded confidence bands). (a) Morni Hills (yellow): species richness increases with elevation and peaks near mid-elevations (~900 m) before declining. (b) Chail Wildlife Sanctuary (green): species richness peaks around 1500 m with a hump-shaped pattern. (c) Churdhar Wildlife Sanctuary (pink): species richness declines steadily with elevation from ~1600 m to 3500 m. (d) All sites combined (blue): a pronounced unimodal, mid-elevation peak in richness around 1200–1500 m. Gray dashed lines represent mid-domain effect predictions, and shaded regions indicate uncertainty.
Four graphs (a-d) showing the relationship between Species richness (y-axis) and Elevation (m) (x-axis), with curves representing different total numbers of observed species ($\Delta N_{obs}$) relative to the mean across the study sites.The legend indicates five levels of $\Delta N_{obs}$: 200 (light teal), 100 (dark teal), 0 (dark gray), -100 (brown), and -200 (light orange).Plots a, b, and d show a hump-shaped relationship between richness and elevation, where richness peaks at intermediate elevations and decreases at lower and higher elevations.Plot c shows a decreasing relationship between richness and elevation.In all plots (a-d), a higher total number of observed species (positive $\Delta N_{obs}$) corresponds to a higher overall species richness at any given elevation.
Four graphs (a-d) showing the relationship between Species richness (y-axis) and Elevation (m) (x-axis), with curves representing different total numbers of observed species ($\Delta N_{obs}$) relative to the mean across the study sites.The legend indicates five levels of $\Delta N_{obs}$: 200 (light teal), 100 (dark teal), 0 (dark gray), -100 (brown), and -200 (light orange).Plots a, b, and d show a hump-shaped relationship between richness and elevation, where richness peaks at intermediate elevations and decreases at lower and higher elevations.Plot c shows a decreasing relationship between richness and elevation.In all plots (a-d), a higher total number of observed species (positive $\Delta N_{obs}$) corresponds to a higher overall species richness at any given elevation.