Response of lianas to edge effects in mid-montane moist evergreen broad- leaved forests in the Ailao Mountains, SW China

doi:10.17520/biods.2015248

Abstract

Abstract:

Forests are becoming increasingly fragmented worldwide. Compared to other woody plants (i.e., trees and shrubs), lianas are more concentrated near the edge than in the forest interior. Therefore, understanding how lianas respond to edge effects is important for predicting the impacts of lianas on forests dynamics. In this study, change of lianas on the edge-to-interior gradients was investigated in a subtropical mid-montane moist evergreen broad-leaved forest in the Ailao Mountains, SW China. Ten 20 m × 50 m transect sample plots were established in 13-, 35- and 53-year forest edges along the gradient situated perpendicular to the edges. Each plot was divided into five 20 m × 10 m quadrats, and those lianas with ≥ 2.0 m in length and ≥ 0.2 cm in diameter at breast height (DBH) were measured. We recorded a total of 2,426 individual lianas in the 3-ha sample plots, representing 31 species in 19 genera and 14 families. Our results are as follows: (1) Liana species richness and abundance decreased with increasing distance from the edge; the distance of edge effects for the 35-year forest edge was 30 m, and 20 m for 13- and 53-year forest edges. Liana breast height area in the 53-year forest edge was significantly higher within 20 m of the forest edge than in the forest interior, whereas there was no significant difference along the edge to interior gradient in the 13- and 35-year forest edges; (2) Liana species responded differently to edge effects, including species present exclusively at or near the edges (within 20 m of the edge), species density decreased with increasing distance from the edge, and species were insensitive to edge effects, which showed minor variation or random fluctuation throughout the gradient; and (3) Results from the canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) indicated that canopy openness, edge age and soil moisture were the most important factors that determined the distribution of lianas at the forest edges.

Key words: lianas, community, species, edge effects, subtropical forest

Chunming Yuan, Yunfen Geng, Yong Chai, Jiabo Hao, Tao Wu. Response of lianas to edge effects in mid-montane moist evergreen broad- leaved forests in the Ailao Mountains, SW China[J]. Biodiv Sci, 2016, 24(1): 40-47.

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URL: https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/10.17520/biods.2015248

https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/Y2016/V24/I1/40

Figures/Tables 4

Fig. 1 Variation of lianas’ species richness (a), abundance (b) and breast height area (c) along the edge-to-interior gradient in the mid-montane moist evergreen broad-leaved forests in the Ailao Mountains (means ± SD)

Table 1 Density of lianas along the edge-to-interior gradient in the mid-montane moist evergreen board-leaved forests in Ailao Mountains (mean±SD)

Table 2 Eigenvalues and correlation coefficients between the first three axes and environmental variables in the canonical correspondence analysis (CCA)

项目 Items	排序轴1 Axis 1	排序轴2 Axis 2	排序轴3 Axis 3
特征值 Eigenvalues	0.350	0.176	0.131
变化的累积百分比 Cumulative percentage variance
物种数据 Species data	6.3	9.4	11.7
物种-环境关系 Species-environment relation	45.8	68.7	85.9
环境变量 Environmental variables
坡向 Aspect	0.2348	-0.0557	0.8233
海拔 Altitude	0.2724	-0.2123	-0.5633
林冠开度 Crown illumination	0.9655	0.1555	-0.0541
土壤水分 Soil moisture	-0.3979	0.5921	-0.4261
边缘年龄 Edge age	-0.0992	-0.6194	-0.0546

Fig. 2 Ordination diagrams from the canonical correspondence analysis of liana species abundance data on 30 plots. CII: crown illumination index; SM: soil moisture; SAI: slope aspect index; AGE: edge age; AL: altitude. Species codes are as defined in Table 1.

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