Effects of Topographic and Soil Factors on Woody Species Assembly in a Chinese Subtropical Evergreen Broadleaved Forest

Forests

Lijuan Zhao¹  Wenhua Xiang¹  Jiaxiang Li³  Pifeng Lei¹  Xiangwen Deng¹  Xi Fang¹  Changhui Peng¹  George Perry² 

[1] Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, Hunan, China; E-Mails:Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, Hunan, China;;Faculty of Forestry, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, Hunan, China; E-Mail:

关键词: spatial pattern;    spatial association;    vertical layer;    topography;    soil nutrient;    hilly area in southern China;   

DOI  :  10.3390/f6030650

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Evergreen broadleaved forests in subtropical China contain a complicated structure of diverse species. The impact of topographic and soil factors on the assembly of woody species in the forest has been poorly understood. We used Ripley’s K(t) function to analyze the spatial patterns and associations of dominant species and residual analysis (RDA) to quantify the contribution of topography and soil to species assembly. The 1ha plot investigated had 4797 stems with a diameter at breast height (dbh) larger than 1cm that belong to 73 species, 55 genera, and 38 families. All stems of the entire forest and four late successional species exhibited a reversed J shape for dbh distribution, while two early successional species showed a unimodal shape. Aggregation was the major spatial pattern for entire forests and dominant species across vertical layers. Spatial associations between inter- and intra-species were mostly independent. Topographic and soil factors explained 28.1% of species assembly. The forest was close to late succession and showed the characteristics of diverse woody species, high regeneration capacity, and aggregated spatial patterns. Topographic and soil factors affected species assembly, but together they could only explain a small part of total variance.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.