Abstract
Forest diversity and conservation in the Wulingshan National Nature Reserve are ecologically important in North China. Forty-one forest plots of 20 m × 20 m were established along an altitudinal gradient. Data on species composition, environmental variables and disturbance intensity were measured in each plot. The TWINSPAN and CCA methods were used to analyze forest community diversity and the forest–environment relationship, and species diversity indices were used to analyze species diversity in this reserve. The results showed that eight forest formations were identified by TWINSPAN using species importance value data, and most of them were typical secondary natural forests. Each forest formation had its own characteristics of composition, structure, function and environment. Forest diversity was most significantly correlated with elevation and disturbance, and was also related to litter thickness, soil depth and slope. The species diversity showed a “humped” distribution pattern along the altitudinal gradient and a quadratic decreasing pattern along the disturbance gradient. Elevation and disturbance were the most important factors influencing species diversity. The effectiveness of conservation is apparent since the reserve was established.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander R, Millington A (2000) Vegetation mapping: from patch to planet. Wiley, Chichester
Austrheim G (2002) Plant diversity patterns in semi-natural grasslands along an elevational gradient in southern Norway. Plant Ecol 161(2):193–205
Bai S, Lu G, Gu J, Zhang S, Zheng H, Wang X (2006) Studies on species and landscape pattern diversities of Wuling Mountain. J Agric Univ Hebei 2:1–6
Brinkmann K, Patzelt A, Dickhoefer U, Schlecht E, Buerkert A (2009) Vegetation patterns and diversity along an altitudinal and a grazing gradient in the Jabal al Akhdar mountain range of northern Oman. J Arid Environ 73:1035–1045
Brown JH (2001) Mammals on mountainsides: elevational patterns of diversity. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 10:101–109
Cui GF, Xing SH, Zhao B (2008) Conservation of mountain plants and vegetation in Beijing. China Forestry Press, Beijing (in Chinese)
Cullotta S, Puzzolo V, Fresta A (2015) The southernmost beech (Fagus sylvatica) forests of Europe (Mount Etna, Italy): ecology, structural stand-type diversity and management implications. Plant Biosyst 149:88–89
Duan D (2009) Study on the diversity of wild plants resources in Wuling Mountain and their garden application evaluation. J Anhui Agric Sci 11:5–8
Fetene M, Assefa Y, Gashaw M, Woldu Z, Beck E (2006) Diversity of afroalpine vegetation and ecology of treeline species in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia, and the influence of fire. In: Spehn EM, Liberman M, Korner C (eds) Land use change and mountain biodiversity. CRC Press, New York, pp 25–38
Hawkins BA, Diniz JAF (2004) ‘Latitude’ and geographic patterns in species richness. Ecography 27:268–272
He SY, Xing QH, Yin ZT (1992) Flora of Beijing. Beijing Press, Beijing (in Chinese)
Hill MO (1979) TWINSPN-A Fortran program for arranging multivariate data in an ordered two-way table by classification of the individuals and attributes. Cornell University, Ithaca
Korner C (2007) The use of altitude in ecological research. Trends Ecol Evol 22:569–574
Littell JS, Oneil EE, McKenzie D, Hicke JA, Lutz JA, Norheim RA, Elsner MM (2010) Forest ecosystems, disturbance, and climatic change in Washington State, USA. Clim Change 102:129–158
Liu MW, Ren XW (1992) Inter-specific correlations and classification of plants in Baihua Mountain Mountains in Beijing. J Beijing For Univ 14(4):77–84
Liu J, Xi W (1997) The main vegetation types and vertical distribution laws in Wulingshan Mountains. J Cap Norm Univ 8(1):95–103
Liu HX, Gu JC, Lu SW, Gu WH, Yu JJ (2009) Study on forest community characters and species diversity of Xiaowutai. Chin Agric Sci Bull 25(04):97–100
Lomolino MV (2001) Elevation gradients of species diversity: historical and prospective views. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 10:3–13
Luth C, Tasser E, Niedrist G, Dalla Via J, Tappeiner U (2011) Plant communities of mountain grasslands in a broad cross-section of the Eastern Alps. Flora 206:433–443
Muenchow J, Hauenstein S, Brauning A, Baumler R, Rodriguez EF, von Wehrden H (2013) Soil texture and altitude, respectively, largely determine the floristic gradient of the most diverse fog oasis in the Peruvian desert. J Trop Ecol 29:427–438
Muhumuza M, Byarugaba D (2009) Impact of land use on the ecology of uncultivated plant species in the Rwenzori mountain range, mid western Uganda. Afr J Ecol 47:614–621
Otypkova Z, Chytry M, Tichy L, Pechanec V, Jongepier JW, Hajek O (2011) Floristic diversity patterns in the White Carpathians biosphere reserve, Czech Republic. Biologia 66:266–274
Pavlu V, Hejcman M, Pavlu L, Gaisler J (2003) Effect of rotational and continuous grazing on vegetation of an upland grassland in the Jizerske Hory Mts., Czech Republic. Folia Geobot 38(1):21–34
Ru W, Zhang J-T (2012) Ecological study of forests dominated by endangered species, Taxus chinensis var. mairei, in Shanxi of China. Appl Ecol Environ Res 10(4):457–470
Schmidt I, Zerbe S, Betzin J, Weckesser M (2006) An approach to the identification of indicators for forest biodiversity—the Solling mountains (NW Germany) as an example. Restor Ecol 14:123–136
Smet M, Ward D (2005) A comparison of the effects of different rangeland management systems on plant species composition, diversity and vegetation structure in a semi-arid savanna. Afr J Range Forage Sci 22(1):59–71
Sproull GJ, Quigley MF, Sher A, Gonzalez E (2015) Long-term changes in composition, diversity and distribution patterns in four herbaceous plant communities along an elevational gradient. J Veg Sci 26:552–563
SuriGuga Zhang J-T, Zhang B, Cheng JJ, Zhang QD, Tian SG, Liu SJ (2011) Forest community analysis in the Songshan National Nature Reserve of China using self-organizing map. Russ J Ecol 42(3):216–222
ter Braak CJF, Šmilauer P (2002) CANOCO Reference Manual and User’s Guide to Canoco for Windows. Software for Canonical Community Ordination (version 4.5). Centre for Biometry Wageningen (Wageningen, NL) and Microcomputer Power (Ithaca, NY, USA)
Virtanen R, Luoto M, Rama T (2010) Recent vegetation changes at the high-latitude tree line ecotone are controlled by geomorphological disturbance, productivity and diversity. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 19:810–821
Wang ZJ, Cai J, Zhang QX (2004) Effects of tourism on forest landscapes in Yunmengshan National Forest Park. Hebei For Sci Technol 20:32–35 (in Chinese)
Wu ZY (1980) Vegetation of China. Science Press, Beijing, pp 453–615 (in Chinese)
Xiang CL, Zhang J-T (2009) Changes in species diversity and contributing factors in subalpine meadows in Dongling Mountain. J Beijing Norm Univ (Nat Sci) 45(3):275–278
Young D, Perotto-Baldivieso HL, Brewer T, Homer R, Santos SA (2014) Monitoring British upland ecosystems with the use of landscape structure as an indicator for state-and-transition models. Rangel Ecol Manag 67:380–388
Zhang J-T (2011) Quantitative ecology, 2nd edn. Science Press, Beijing (in Chinese)
Zhang J-T, Shao D (2015) Attributes of forest diversity in the Yunmeng Mountain National Forest Park in Beijing, China. Appl Ecol Environ Res 13(3):769–782
Zhang J-T, Xiang CL, Li M (2012) Effects of tourism and topography on vegetation diversity in the subalpine meadows of the Dongling Mountains of Beijing, China. Environ Manag 49:403–411
Zhang J-T, Xu B, Li M (2013) Vegetation patterns and species diversity along elevational and disturbance gradients in the Baihua Mountain Reserve, Beijing, China. Mt Res Dev 33(2):170–178
Zhang J-T, Zhang B, Qian ZY (2015) Functional diversity of Cercidiphyllum japonicum, communities in the Shennongjia Reserve, central China. J For Res 26(1):171–177
Zheng JM, Zhang CY, Zhou JX, Zhao XH, Yu XX, Qin YS (2007) Study on vertical structure of forest communities in Yunmengshan. For Res 20(6):768–774 (in Chinese with an English abstract)
Zilliox C, Gosselin F (2014) Tree species diversity and abundance as indicators of understory diversity in French mountain forests: variations of the relationship in geographical and ecological space. For Ecol Manag 321:105–116
Acknowledgments
This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31170494) and the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (Grant No. 20120003110024).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, JT., Zhang, M. & Mian, R. Effects of elevation and disturbance gradients on forest diversity in the Wulingshan Nature Reserve, North China. Environ Earth Sci 75, 904 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-016-5734-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-016-5734-y