浙江天童常绿阔叶林林冠结构与群落物种组成的关系

森林林冠结构能改变林下微气候条件, 可能会形成独立于地面生境的空间结构, 进而影响群落物种组成差异。该研究利用机载激光雷达获取浙江天童20 hm²常绿阔叶林样地的高精度林冠结构信息, 初步探讨了林冠结构与群落物种组成差异的关系, 结果表明: (1)未考虑林冠结构时, 独立于地面生境的空间结构是天童样地群落物种组成差异的重要影响因子, 在100 m²、400 m²、2 500 m²样方尺度上, 其对群落物种组成差异的解释率分别为25.2%、28.1%、8.0%。(2)考虑林冠结构后, 林冠结构使独立于地面生境的空间结构对群落物种组成差异的解释率降低了约1/3 (26.2%-36.0%)。(3)林冠结构因子中, 林冠高度对群落物种组成差异影响最大, 其次为林冠内部结构; 随样方尺度增大, 林冠高度对群落物种组成差异的影响降低, 林冠内部结构的影响逐渐增加。该研究结果证明了林冠结构是独立于地面生境的空间结构的主要驱动因子, 对天童植物群落物种组成差异具有不可忽视的重要作用。这些结果明晰了林冠结构因子中林冠高度和内部结构的重要性。

Relationship between canopy structure and species composition of an evergreen broadleaf forest in Tiantong region,Zhejiang, China

Aims The ecological mechanisms underlying species compositional differences among communities are crucial to understanding and predicting biodiversity changes. One of such mechanisms is the spatial structure independent of ground-level habitat (e.g., soil nutrients and topographic parameters). However, the primary drivers of this spatial structure are still unclear. Forest canopy structure can alter understory microclimates, which in turn influences the spatial structure and species compositional differences. We know little so far about such influence of the forest canopy structure. This gap has hindered our understanding of the ecological mechanisms underlying species compositional difference.