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cje ›› 2010, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (01): 22-28.

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Dynamic changes of plant community structure and population niche in the recovery process of degenerated secondary forests.

LIU Xian-zhao1;LU Yuan-chang1;ZHOU Yan-hua2   

  1. 1Institute of Forest Resource Information Techniques, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China;2Hainan Forestry Administration, Haikou 570000, China
  • Online:2010-01-08 Published:2010-01-08

Abstract: Four secondary forests at initial, early, nearmiddle, and late recovery stages under anthropogenic disturbance in Nankai Township of Baisha County, Hainan Province were selected to study their community structure, tree species composition, importance value index, and niche width. At the early and middle stages of recovery, the dominant species with the largest niche width played obvious roles. With the process of recovery, the niche widths of different species populations in the communities became stable, the community diversity and species richness increased, the stand structure became complicated, and the influence of d
ominant species was weakened. In addition, due to the forest management history, the forest community at early and middle recovery stages included some special tree species which should present themselves in natural forest, and these species were called as “ecological stability species”, because they usually had small number of trees and occupied a small niche width, but had strong competing viability. In the management of secondary forests at early and middle stages of recovery, to maximize the roles of dominant species and to promote the individual numbers of ecological stability species would be essential for the restoration management of secondary forests.

Key words: Community structure, Environmental factors, Spatial factors, Mowing, Grazing