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Patterns of species diversity and soil nutrients along a chronosequence of vegetation recovery in Hainan Island, South China

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Ecological Research

Abstract

Understanding the pattern of species diversity and soil factors can enhance our knowledge of the mechanism of vegetation recovery, however, there is still a gap in the knowledge of succession rate and trend for species diversity in relation to soil nutrients during the vegetation recovery process. Patterns of species diversity and soil nutrients during the tropical vegetation recovery as well as the correlation between species diversity and soil nutrients were explored in Hainan Island, located in southern China. Plots assigned as grassland stage (GS), shrub stage (SS), secondary forest stage (SFS), and primary forest stage (PFS) were established using a chronosequence approach. Results showed that species richness and evenness increased from GS to PFS. Species dominance/diversity curves were fitted using the lognormal distribution model (r 2 = 0.891–0.972). Species richness for the herb layer was maximal at SFS, whereas species richness for both the shrub layer and tree layer reached their maximum at PFS. Species turnover and soil total phosphorus decreased, whereas organic matter and total nitrogen increased from GS to PFS. Organic matter and total nitrogen were both positively correlated with species richness and total coverage, and total phosphorus was positively correlated with species turnover. The results clearly demonstrate that diversity asymptotically increases and positively correlates with increasing soil fertility, and the total phosphorus value is predicted to be an important soil factor that affects successional rate during tropical vegetation recovery processes.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Yunfeng Huang and Tao Luo for field and laboratory assistance. We also thank the editors and two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments. This work was supported by Hainan University Science Foundation for Youths (qnjj1161), Scientific Research Foundation of Hainan University, the Key Program of Science and Technology Planning Project of Hainan Province, China (080801), the National Special Program on key Basic Research Project (2010CB134512), and a grant by National Key Disciplines of Botany of Hainan University.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Protection and Development Utilization of Tropical Crop Germplasm Resource, Ministry of Education, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China

    Wenxing Long, Xiaobo Yang & Donghai Li

  2. Key Laboratory of Protection and Development Utilization of Tropical Crop Germplasm Resource, College of Horticulture and Landscape Agriculture, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China

    Wenxing Long, Xiaobo Yang & Donghai Li

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  1. Wenxing Long
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Correspondence to Xiaobo Yang.

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Long, W., Yang, X. & Li, D. Patterns of species diversity and soil nutrients along a chronosequence of vegetation recovery in Hainan Island, South China. Ecol Res 27, 561–568 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-011-0923-3

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