Species diversity of Chinese beech forests in relation to warmth and climatic disturbances |
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Authors: | Kun-Fang Cao Rob Peters |
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Institution: | (1) Center for Ecological Research, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20 Nanxincun, Xianshan, Haidian District, 100093 Beijing, China;(2) Department of Forestry, Wageningen Agricultural University, PO Box 342, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | The trends in the occurrence of climatic disturbances in the ChineseFagus range are described, and the relationship between woody species diversity and climatic factors in eight old-growth Chinese
beech forests is characterized. In the ChineseFagus range that lies in the humid mountains of southern China, wind storms and heavy rain frequency increase towards the eastern
coast. Thunderstorm frequency increases southwards. Snowfall frequency increases northwards. Glaze storm frequency peaks in
the center near Lake Dongtian, but much higher in the east than in the west. Hailstorm frequency also peaks in the center.
The forests sampled in this study are widely separated. Their canopies consist of either deciduous broad-leaved trees or a
mixture of evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved trees. Their species diversity increases towards warmer sites and towards
the east. The importance of the evergreen trees in relation to warmth and minimum temperature increases southwards. Our analysis
suggests that wind storms and heavy rains enhance the species diversity of Chinese beech forests. Cold disturbances such as
glaze and snow diminish the diversity and canopy dominance of evergreen broad-leaved trees but favor deciduous broad-leaved
trees, especially beech. The annual precipitation received by the forests in this study varies from 1400–2550 mm. This is
not correlated with diversity, however, probably because all of these forests grow in humid conditions with sufficient water
being supplied by precipitation throughout the year. |
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Keywords: | disturbance-diversity theory energy-diversity theory evergreen versus deciduous old-growthFagus forests southern China |
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