Biodiv Sci ›› 2015, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (5): 630-640.  DOI: 10.17520/biods.2015031

Special Issue: 森林动态监测样地专题

• Special Feature: Forest Dynamics Monitoring • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Individual woody species-area relationship in a deciduous broad-leaved forest in Baotianman, Henan Province

Manyu Yan1,2, Xiaojun Du2,*(), Aihua Zhao2, Mingchun Peng1   

  1. 1 Institute of Ecology and Geobotany, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091
    2 State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environment Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093
  • Received:2015-02-04 Accepted:2015-05-28 Online:2015-09-20 Published:2015-10-12
  • Contact: Du Xiaojun

Abstract:

The individual species-area relationship (ISAR) can be used to estimate the effects of individual species (accumulator, repeller, or neutral) on neighboring biodiversity at different spatial scales. The effects of individual species with different sizes (diameter at breast height classes, DBH classes) on neighboring species diversity are still an unresolved question although several papers have addressed this question by using the ISAR. In this study, we compared ISARs of nine types (all to all, all to adult, all to young, adult to all, adult to adult, adult to young, young to all, young to adult and young to young); “young to adult” represents that ISAR of young individuals of target species to adult individuals of neighboring species in a 1 ha deciduous broad-leaved forest in Baotianman National Nature Reserve, Henan Province. We tested the following hypotheses: (1) the adult individuals (DBH ≥ 10 cm) of target species have greater influence on the biodiversity of their neighbors than the young (DBH < 10 cm); (2) the individuals of the same species or the same size class have greater influence on neighboring young tree diversity than adult tree diversity; (3) most species are neutral in the Baotianman deciduous broad-leaved forest. The results showed that the effects of tree species with different sizes on neighboring tree diversity are scale-based and also affected by the size of the neighbor tree. The results supported the hypothesis that individuals of the same species or the same size have greater influence on neighboring young tree diversity than on neighboring adult tree diversity; but did not support that the adult individuals of focal species have greater influence on neighboring tree diversity than young individuals. The results also indicated that most species are neutral at spatial scales of 1-10 m in the Baotianman forest; multiple accumulator or repeller species were detected at some scales. The results will contribute to our understanding of the role of specific species on biodiversity and community maintenance mechanism.

Key words: individual species-area relationship, neutral species, biodiversity, DBH classes, forest dynamics plot, Baotianman National Nature Reserve