Vascular diversity patterns of forest ecosystem before and after a 43-year interval under changing climate conditions in the Changbaishan Nature Reserve, northeastern China

Abstract

The Changbaishan Nature Reserve (CNR) is the largest protected temperate forest in the world. It was established in 1960 to protect the virgin Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) mixed hardwood forest, a typical temperate forest of northeast China. Studies of vascular diversity patterns on the north slope of the CNR mountainside forest (800-1700 m a.s.l.) were conducted in 1963 and in 2006. The aim of this comparison was to assess the long-term effects of the protected status on plant biodiversity during the intervening 43 years. The research was carried out in three forest types: mixed coniferous and broadleaved forest (MCBF), mixed coniferous forest (MCF), and sub-alpine coniferous forest (SCF), characterized by different dominant species. The alpha diversity indicted by species richness and the Shannon-Wiener index were found to differ for the same elevations and forest types after the 43-year interval, while the beta diversity indicated by the Cody index depicted the altitudinal patterns of plant species gain and loss. The floral compositional pattern and the diversity of vascular species were generally similar along altitudinal gradients before and after the 43-year interval, but some substantial changes were evident with the altitude gradient. In the tree layer, the dominant species in 2006 were similar to those of 1963, though diversity declined with altitude. The indices in the three forest types did not differ significantly between 1963 and 2006, and these values even increased in the MCBF and MCF. However, originally dominant species, such as Pinus koraiensis, tended to decline, the proportion of broadleaved trees increased, and the species turnover in the succession layers showed a trend to shift to higher altitudes. The diversity pattern of the understory fluctuated along the altitudinal gradient due to microenvironmental variations. A comparison of the alpha diversity indices among the three forest types reveals that the diversity of the shrub and herb layer decreased, and some rare and medicinal species disappeared. Meteorological records show that climate has changed significantly in this 43-year intervening period, and information collected from another field survey found that the most severe human disturbances to the CNR forests stemmed from the exploitation of Ginseng roots and Korean pine nuts.

Ecological contingency in the effects of climatic warming on forest herb communities

“…Finally, both undisturbed and second-growth lower montane herb communities shifted to resemble more closely communities on warm southerly slopes, as we previously found for herb communities on serpentine soils in the study region (28). Our study adds to growing ecological evidence for drier forest understory conditions in many parts of the world (e.g., 45,[46][47][48][49]. The three metrics we developed may prove valuable as a way to compare the effects of climate change across multiple ecological communities having few species in common.…”

Forest vegetation responses to climate and environmental change: A case study from Changbai Mountain, NE China

“…The Changbai Nature Reserve (CNR) in NE China on the border near North Korea provides a rare opportunity to conduct such an investigation. The reserve has been established in 1960 to protect China's last remaining large areas of pristine temperate forests, including mixed broadleaved and Korean pine forest (Yang and Xu, 2003;Sang and Bai, 2009). The vegetation of the reserve was studied in detail in the early 1960s (Chen, 1963;Chen et al, 1964).…”

Understorey Vegetation Stability and Dynamics in Unmanaged Boreal Forests Along a Deposition Gradient in Sweden

“…The species composition of forest floor vegetation is determined by several factors, including regional and local (micro) climate (Bailey 2009;Sang and Bai 2009), tree species composition, and the local species pool (Barbier et al 2008;Cornwell and Grubb 2003). Anthropogenic factors such as forest management practice (Paillet et al 2010) and atmospheric deposition of N and S (van Dobben and de Vries 2010; Lee 1998) can also influence species composition.…”