Study on successions sequence of evergreen broad-leaved forest in Gutian Mountain of Zhejiang, Eastern China: species diversity

Abstract

Using the widely adopted scheme of space-for-time substitution for investigating 16 typical plots distributed as a pattern of contiguous grid quadrates within a sampling plot, the expressions of Shannon-Wiener index (H) for species diversity, Pielou index (J _sw , J _SI ) for evenness and Simpson index (D) for ecological dominance are employed to investigate the species diversity (SD) of four evergreen broadleaved communities in the successions sequence within the Nature Reserve of the Gutian Mountains. Results showed that in the successions process from the coniferous to the mixed coniferous-broadleaved, then to Schima superba and finally to Castanopsis eyrei forest, the arbor layer SD showed the Shannon-Wiener index (H) as 1.9670, 2.4975, 2.6140 and 2.4356, respectively, characterized by their rise before drop and the shrub (herb) layer SD shows the maximum to be in the mixed coniferous-broadleaved (coniferous) forest (H arriving at 2.8625 (1.5334)). In the vertical structure, on the other hand, for the sequenced coniferous forest, coniferous-broad mixed forest and Castnaopsis eyrei forest, the number of SD ranges in a decreasing order from the shrub, arbor to herb layer in contrast to the SD in a decreasing order of Schima superba forest ranging from the arbor to shrub and then to herb layer, and during the succession, the herb layer exhibits the maximum range of SD change among these layers, with its variation coefficients of 0.1572, 0.0806, 0.0899 and 0.1884 for H, J _SW , J _SI and D, in order, in sharp contrast to the minimal SD range in the shrub layer, with the corresponding figures of 0.0482, 0.0385, 0.0142, and 0.1553.