Impact of patch size on woody tree species richness and abundance in a tropical montane evergreen forest patches of south India

作     者：Dharmalingam Mohandass Mason J.Campbell Priya Davidar 

作者机构：Root and Soil Biology LaboratoryDepartment of BotanyBharathiar UniversityCoimbatoreTaminadu 641046India Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science(T.E.S.S.)College of Science and EngineeringJames Cook UniversityCairnsQLD 4870Australia Department of Ecology and Environmental SciencesPondicherry UniversityKalapetPondicherry 605014India 

出 版 物：《Journal of Forestry Research》 (林业研究（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2018年第29卷第6期

页      面：1675-1687页

核心收录：

学科分类：0907[农学-林学] 08[工学] 0829[工学-林业工程] 09[农学] 

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)through Young Scientist Grant No.31200173,P.R.China Center for Tropical Forest Science,Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute,Panama 

主　　题：Dispersal mode Forest fragments Shade-tolerance Species–area relationships Western Ghats 

摘      要：We examined the effects of forest patch size on woody tree species richness and abundance in tropical montane evergreen forest patches of the Nilgiri region,south India. We sampled woody trees(1 cm dbh) from 21 forest patches in the upper Nilgiri hills( 2000 m elevation) and recorded a total of 35,146 individuals of 61 species, 45 genera and 30 families. Species richness and abundance of sapling/shrubs(≥ 1 to 10 cm dbh)increased significantly with increasing patch size, but the species richness and abundance of small, medium and larger trees(≥ 10 to 30, ≥ 30 to 60 and ≥ 60 cm dbh,respectively) did not. Overall, forest interior species richness and abundance increased significantly with increasing patch size but edge species richness did not. Species richness and abundance of shade-tolerant and shade-demanding tree species also increased with increasing patch size. The abundance of zoochory dispersed tree species was significantly related to increasing patch size, but those dispersed by autochory did not display any clear relationship between patch size and species richness or *** findings suggest that with increasing forest patch area,tree compositional patterns may be driven by species specific shade-tolerance adaptations and dispersal *** responses in these traits by the plant community within the individual habitat zones of forest edge and interiors likely plays a major role in determining the inherent plant community and thus the subsequent ecological processes of forest patches, including their responses to increasing patch area.