The study looked at different plant communities on an island in China to understand how they are affected by the environment. They found that some communities had more plant species than others, but less variety in their structure. The shrub community had lower species and structure diversity but higher functional diversity. The researchers also discovered that plant diversity was related to soil properties, with some diversity measures increasing with soil density and carbon content, while decreasing with soil water content. Overall, the plant communities on the island showed similarities to mainland vegetation but also had unique characteristics.