Relationship between species richness and biomass on environmental gradient in natural forest communities on Mt. Xiaolongshan, northwest China

• Published in: Forestry Studies in China Vol. 10; no. 4; pp. 212 - 219
• Main Authors: Suo, An-ning, Ju, Tian-zhen, Ge, Jian-ping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Beijing Forestry University 01.12.2008; Springer Nature B.V; College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, P. R. China; National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian 116023, P. R. China%College of Geography and Environment Sciences, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, P. R. China%College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, P. R. China
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Forestry; Forestry Management; Life Sciences; Plant Ecology; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Research Article; Tree Biology; Wood Science & Technology; biomass; species richness; environmental factors; forest community; forest communityAcknowledgement
• ISSN: 1008-1321; 2095-4034; 1993-0372; 2197-5620
• DOI: 10.1007/s11632-008-0041-7

We analyzed the relationship between species richness and biomass in natural forest communities at two similar sites on Mt. Xiaolongshan, northwest China. At both sites, a wide range of tree layer biomass levels was available by local biomass estimation models. In order to identify underlying mechanism of the species richness-biomass relationship, we included different water resource levels and number of individuals in each plot in our analysis. We sampled 15 and 20 plots (20 m × 20 m), respectively, at both two sites. These plots were sampled equally on the sunny slope and the shady slope. Species richness, number of individuals of each species and diameter at breast height (DBH) as a substitute of biomass of tree layer were recorded in each sample. At one site, the relationship between species richness and biomass was significant on the sunny slope, and this relationship disappeared on the shady slope due to more environmental factors. The relations between species richness and number of individuals and between number of individuals and biomass paralleled the species richness-biomass relation on both slopes. The difference in number of individuals-biomass relationships on the sunny slope and the shady slope revealed “interspecific competitive exclusion” even though the species richness-biomass relationships were not hump-shaped. At the other site, species richness was not related to biomass or to number of individuals. Our study demonstrated the importance of environmental stress and succession of community in the understanding of species diversity-productivity patterns.