Depth of edge influence on agriculture-forestry boundary in arid valley of upper reaches of Minjiang River,China

Abstract

Abstract: By using moving split-window techniques (MSWT),this study estimated how far the edge effects penetrated the forest and agricultural fields in the arid valley of upper reaches of Minjiang River,southwestern China.Its aim was to provide general information on vegetation along edge to interior gradients in order to assist in interpretation and prediction of biological phenomena associated with agriculture-forestry boundary,and to improve current management practices in such areas.Three types of boundaries (10 transects) were investigated and sampled.The results showed that when the window width reached 6～10,the change of the SED curve on the graph tended to become stable,and one or two peaks occurred.The depth of edge influence was clearly different for different types of boundaries,and could be estimated within 50 m from the edge to interior.The depth of edge influence (DEI) on vegetation diversity almost varied between 12～30 m,mainly depending on the patch type,topography and microclimate,but seldom on slope orientation.Of the 6 forest transects in the three types of boundaries,the DEI was detected only in the forest part transects M2 and M6,but almost detectable in the agricultural part of all transects.MSWT was considered to be a useful tool for characterizing edge dynamics if enough data was available,and became a simple and powerful technique for analyzing the boundary.The results will provide further knowledge for understanding the interaction between forestry and agriculture in the arid valley.

Key words: Edge effects, Boundary, Moving split-window techniques (MSWT), Depth of edge influence (DEI)

CLC Number:

Q149

LI Liguang, HE Xingyuan, LI Xiuzhen, WEN Qingchun, ZHAO Yonghua, HU Zhibin, CHANG Yu, ZHU Yaping. Depth of edge influence on agriculture-forestry boundary in arid valley of upper reaches of Minjiang River,China[J]. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 2004, (10): 1804-1808.

References

[1] Bao W-K(包维楷), Chen Q-H(陈庆恒), Liu Z-G(刘照光).1995. Degradation of mountain ecosystem in the upper reaches of Mingjiang River and countermeasures for their rehabilitation and reconstruction. Resour Environ Yangtze Valley( 长江流域资源与环境 ), 4: 277 ～ 282 (in Chinese)
[2] Bao W-K(包维楷), Liu Z-G(刘照光), Liu Z-L(刘朝禄), et al.2001. Fifteen year changes of tree populations in the secondary subtropical evergreen broad leaved forests in south western China. Sci Silvae Sin (林业科学 ), 37:7 ～ 14(in Chinese)
[3] Brunt JW, Conley W. 1990. Behavior of a multivariate algorithm for ecological edge detection. Ecol Model, 49:179～ 203
[4] Cadenasso ML, Pickett STA, Weathers KC, et al. 2003b. An interdisciplinary and synthetic approach to ecological boundaries. BioScience, 53: 717 ～ 722
[5] Cadenasso ML, Pickett STA, Weathers KC, Jones CG. 2003b. A framework for a theory of ecological boundaries. BioScience, 53:750～758.
[6] Cadenasso ML, Pickett STA. 2001. Effect of edge structure on the flux of species into forest interiors. Conser Biol, 15: 91 ～ 97
[7] Cadenasso ML, Traynor MM, Pickett STA. 1997. Functional loc ation of forest edges: Gradients of multiple physical factors. Can J For Res, 27: 774 ～ 782
[8] ChangY(常禹),BuR-C(布仁仓),HuY-M(胡远满),etal.2004. Dynamics of forest landscape boundary at Changbai mountain. Chin J Appl Ecol(应用生态学报), 15(1): 15～ 20(in Chinese)
[9] Chang Y, Bu RC, Hu YM, et al. 2003. Detecting forest landscape boundary between mountain birch and evergreen coniferous forest in the northern slope of Changbai Mountain. J Environ Sci, 15:182～186
[10] Chen J, Franklin JF, Lowe JS. 1996. Comparison of abiotic and structurally defined patch patterns in a hypothetical forest landscape. Conser Biol, 10: 854 ～ 862
[11] Chen J, Franklin JF, Spies TA. 1993. Contrasting microclimates among clearcut, edge, and interior of old-growth Douglas-fir forest.Agric For Meteorol, 63: 219～ 237
[12] Chen J, Franklin JF. 1992. Vegetation responses to edge environments in old-growth Douglas-fir forests. Ecol Appl, 2:387～396
[13] Chen X-H(陈学华). 1996. Research on soil-forming feature semiarid basin at the upper section of Minjiang. Resour Deoel Market (资源开发与市场), 12:75 ～ 78( in Chinese)
[14] Fagan WF, Marie-Josee F, Soykan C. 2003. Integrating edge detection and dynamic modeling in quantitative analyses of ecological boundaries. BioScience, 53: 730 ～ 738
[15] Franklin JF, Forman RTT. 1987. Creating landscape patterns by forest cutting: Ecological consequences and principles. Landscape Ecology, 1: 5 ～ 18
[16] Fraver S. 1994. Vegetation responses along edge-to-interior gradients in the mixed hardwood forests of the Roanoke River Basin,North Carolina. Conser Biol, 8: 822 ～ 832
[17] Guo Y-M(郭永明), Tang Z-X(汤宗祥), Tang S-J(唐时嘉), et al. 1993. Protective utilization of soil resources in the upper reaches of the Mingjiang River. Mount Res ( 山地研究 ), 11: 251 ～ 256 ( in Chinese)
[18] Hu H(胡泓), Liu S-Q(刘世全), Chen Q-H(陈庆恒), et al.2001. Changes of soil properties during artificial recovery of subalpine coniferous forests in western Sichuan. Chin J Appl Environ Biol (应用与环境生物学报 ), 7:308 ～ 314( in Chinese)
[19] Johnton CA, Pastor J, Pinay G. 1992. Quantitative methods for studying landscape boundaries In: Hansen AJ, di Castri F, eds.Landscape Boundary-Consequence for Biotic Diversity and Ecological Flow. New York: Springer-Verlag Press Inc. 55～ 75
[20] Liu Q(刘庆). 1999. Advances in research on restoration and rehabilitation of ecotone in eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau(Western Sichuan). Resour Sci (资源科学), 21: 81 ～ 85 (in Chinese)
[21] Liu S-J(刘守江), Su Z-X(苏智先). 2004. T-square study spatial pattern and regeneration of Betula albo-ainensis Burkill population on west slope of Jiuding Mountain. Chin J Appl Ecol (应用生态学报), 15 ( 1 ): 1 ～ 4 (in Chinese)
[22] Liu S-L(刘世梁), Fu B-J(傅伯杰), Ma K-M(马克明), et al.2004. Effects of vegetation types and landscape features on soil properties at the plateau in the upper reaches of Minjinag River.Chin J Appl Ecol ( 应用生态学报 ), 15(1) :26～30(in Chinese)
[23] Lin W-B(刘文彬). 1994. Main types of the semi-arid valley scrubs in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River. Mount Res ( 山地研究), 12..37～ 31(in Chinese)
[24] Ludwig JA, Cornelius JM. 1987. Locating discontinuities along ecological gradients. Ecology, 68: 448 ～ 450
[25] Ma C-F(马超飞), Ma J-W(马建文), Hasi-Ba-Gan(哈斯巴干),Han X-Z ( 韩秀珍 ). 2001. Closing land for forest or grass in Mingjiang drainage based on RS and GIS.J Soil Water Conser(水土保持学报), 15: 20 ～ 24 ( in Chinese)
[26] Matlack GR. 1993. Microenvironment variation within and among forest edge sites in the eastern United States. Biol Conser, 6:185 ～194
[27] Meiners SJ, Pickett STA. 1999. Changes in community and population responses across a forest-field gradient. Ecography, 22:261 ～267
[28] Murcia C. 1995. Edge effects in fragmented forests: Implications for conservation. Tree, 10: 58～ 62
[29] Palik BJ, Murphy PG. 1990. Disturbance versus edge effects in sugar-maple/beech forest fragments. For Ecol Man, 32:187～ 202
[30] Ripple WJ, Bradshaw GA, Speis TA. 1991. Measuring forest landscape patterns in the Cascade Range of Orgon, USA. Biol Conser,57:73～88
[31] Saunders SC, Chen J, Drummer TD, et al. 1999. Modeling temperature gradients across edges over time in a managed landscape. For Ecol Man, 117:17～ 31
[32] Shi P-L(石培礼), Li W-H(李文华). 2002. Quantitative methodologies for ecotone determination. Acta Ecol Sin ( 生态学报 ), 22 (4) :586～592(in Chinese)
[33] Shi P-L ( 石培礼 ), Liu X-L ( 刘兴良 ). 2002. The application of moving split-window technique in determining ecotone: A case study of Abies faxoniana timberline in Balang Mountain in Sichuan Province. Acta Phytoecol Sin (植物生态学报), 26 (2): 189～ 194 (in Chinese)
[34] Strayer DL, Power ME, Fagan WF, et al. 2003. A classification of ecological boundaries. BioScience, 53: 723～ 729
[35] Sun S-C(孙书存), Liu Z-G(刘照光). 1997. Study on the patterns of Convolvulus tragacuthoiedes population in the upper reaches of the Mingjiang River. Chin J Appl Environ Biol ( 应用与环境生物学报), 3:193～ 198(in Chinese)
[36] Tong C-L(童成立), Li S-D(李慎典). 1996. Production potential of farmland in semi-arid area of the upper basin of Mingjiang River.Resour Environ Yangtze Valley ( 长江流域资源与环境 ), ( 5 ):335 ～ 339 (in Chinese)
[37] Wales BA. 1972. Vegetation analysis of north and south edges in a mature oak-hickory forest. Ecol Monogr, 42: 451 ～ 470
[38] Webster R. 1978. Optimally partitioning soil transects. J Soil Sci,29: 388～ 402
[39] Whittaker RH. 1960. Vegetation of the Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon and California. Ecol Monogr, 30: 279 ～ 332
[40] Wierenga PJ, Hendrickx JMH, Nash MH, et al. 1987. Variation of soil and vegetation with distance along a transect in the Chihuahuan Desert. J Arid Environ, 13 : 53 ～ 63
[41] Zhao C-M(赵和明),Chen Q-H(陈庆恒), Qiao Y-K(乔永康), et al. 2002. Dynamics of species diversity in the restoration process of artificial spruce conifer forest in the eastern edge of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Acta Ph ytoecol Sin ( 植物生态学报 ), 26:20～29(in Chinese)