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Scientia Silvae Sinicae ›› 2021, Vol. 57 ›› Issue (10): 157-165.doi: 10.11707/j.1001-7488.20211015

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Factors Influencing Aboveground Biomass in the Secondary Forest of Quercus aliena var. acutiserrata in Taibai Mountain

Rongrong Pang1,Jieying Peng1,Yan Yan1,2,*   

  1. 1. College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University Yangling 712100
    2. Qinling National Forest Ecosystem Research Station, Shaanxi Province Yangling 712100
  • Received:2020-05-20 Online:2021-10-25 Published:2021-12-11
  • Contact: Yan Yan

Abstract:

Objective: The impacts of species diversity (species richness, species Shannon-Wiener index and species evenness), structure diversity (DBH Shannon-Wiener index, DBH evenness, coefficient of DBH variation, and DBH gini index) and environmental factors on aboveground biomass of the forests of Quercus aliena var. acutiserrata in the north slope of Taibai Mountain of Qinling Mountains were investigated to provide a theoretical basis for biodiversity conservation and harmonization of forest ecosystem functions. Method: Q.aliena var. acutiserrata forests in the north slope of Taibai mountain of Qinling Mountains were studied. The effects of species diversity and structural diversity on the aboveground biomass were analyzed based on inventory data (diameter at breast height ≥ 1 cm) and environmental factors in the permanent observation plots (100 m×150 m). The correlation between species diversity and aboveground biomass was determined by multivariate regression. Coupling with environmental factors, the structural equation modeling was conducted to compare the effects of species diversity and structural diversity on aboveground biomass. Result: The linear regression and structural equation modeling showed no significant correlation between the 3 indices of species diversity with the aboveground biomass. Among the structure diversity indices, a significant negative correlation was obtained between DBH pielou and aboveground biomass. However, a low percentage of aboveground biomass variation can be explained by the diameter pielou. Environmental factors had direct and indirect effects on aboveground biomass, while direct effects were more prominent. Conclusion: Community structure was an important factor for the aboveground biomass of Q. aliena var. acutiserrata forests. However, structural diversity was an inhibiting factor rather than promoting factor on aboveground biomass, indicating that the increased complexity of community structure did not benefit the accumulation of aboveground biomass. Environmental factors directly affected aboveground biomass; however, no significant effect was found on the correlations of aboveground biomass with species diversity or structure diversity. Although the importance of community structure to the aboveground biomass was proved in this study, community structure may not be the dominant factor for aboveground biomass of Q. aliena var. acutiserrata forests.

Key words: Quercus aliena var. acutiserrata forests, species diversity, community structure, aboveground biomass

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