TYPES OF EVERGREEN BROAD-LEAVED FORESTS AND THEIR SPECIES DIVERSITY IN GUTIAN MOUNTAIN NATIONAL NATURE RESERVE

Abstract

The types of evergreen broad-leaved forests and their species diversity in Gutian Mountain Nature Reserve were studied based on community investigation. The results showed that there were mainly 6 types (Formation) of evergreen broad-leaved forests in the reserve: Castanopsis eyrei forest, Castanopsis forgesii forest, Manglietia skinnneriana-Castanopsis tibetan forest, Cyclobalanopsis glauca forest, Daphniphyllum oldhami-Castanopsis eyrei forest and Quercus phillyraeoides-Cyclobalanopsis glauca forest. The structure and floristic components of the communities were described. Their physiognomy, structure, and floristic component showed the basic characteristics of typical evergreen broad-leaved forest in China. The species diversity of different types was different, those of Castanopsis forgesii forest and Manglietia skinnneriana-Castanopsis tibetan forest were high, Daphniphyllum oldhami-Castanopsis eyrei forest and Quercus phillyraeoides- Cyclobalanopsis glauca forest had smaller diversity than others. In the vertical structure of community, the species diversity of shrub layer was the highest, and decrease layerd from shrub, tree to herb layer. The species diversity index between tree layer and shrub layer had no significant difference, and the species richness and species diversity index of treed layer and shrub layer were obviously bigger than those of herb layer. In contrast to the large differences in species diversity among different types of evergreen broad-leaved forests in different areas, the species diversity of the Gutian Mountain's evergreen broad-leaved forest was higher than those of the Huang Mountain and the Dabie Mountain which have higher latitude, but it was lower than those of the Wuyanling Mountain and the Jinyun Mountain which have lower latitude. Tab 4, Ref 11