Abstract:

In this study, we used a space series in place of time series approach to investigate species diversity of fire chronosequence(1-, 5-, 10-, 15-year) in Quercus spp. community in Baotianman National Nature Reserve, a warm-temperate area, north China. The results indicated that the plant species diversity of these communities was high. At different series stage after fire, the Shannon-Wiener and Simpson indexes increased at early stage and then declined. Meanwhile, the Pielou index of tree layer did not signicantly changes, but that of shrub and seedling layer increased at first and then declined, and that of grass layer showed a higher- lower- higher fluctuation. There was no significant difference of diversity indexes among all layers, except the Pielou index which was significantly different between tree and grass layer or grass and seedling layer, and extremely significantly different between tree and shrub layer. The species of shrub and grass layer changed much in 10 years after fire, but the seedling maintained prevalence at different series stage. In the shrub and grass species, heliophyte species mainly emerged in early stage while cheliophytes ones, mainly in late stage.

Key words: Quercus spp. community, biodiversity, fire disturbance, Baotianman National Natural Reserve