Impact of canopy gaps size on woody species biodiversity in mountainous forests of northern Iran (Case study: beech stands of Lalis, Chalous)

Document Type : Research article

Authors

1 M.Sc. of forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tarbiat Modares University

2 Associate Prof., Faculty of Natural Resources, Tarbiat Modares University

3 PhD. student of forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tarbiat Modares University

Abstract

In temperate forests, disturbances are regarded as processes of great importance to forest vegetation. For the better perception of biodiversity, different indices were used in mountain forests of Lalis located in Chalous. Line transect method used for sampling, and plant abundances were recorded, as well. Forest gaps areas were divided into four classes including smaller than 200 m2,200 - 400 m2, 400 - 600 m2 and larger than 600 m2 areas. In order to analyze of biodiversity, Simpson, Shannon and Wiener, Margalef, Menhenick, Peet and Camargo indices were used. Using analysis of variance, statistical difference between biodiversity indices in respect to gap sizes was found. The maximum and minimum of divers species and richness species indices were related to very large and small gaps, respectively. The highest evenness indices were related to medium and large gaps, whereas the least of evenness indices were related to small and very large gaps.

Keywords


- بی‌نام، 1375. طرح جامع جنگلهای حوضه گلبند، آبخیز رودخانه کرکرود، طرح جنگل‌داری دلدره (سری 2). اداره کل منابع طبیعی استان مازندران، 261 صفحه.
- حدادی ‌مقدم، ح.، 1386. بررسی تأثیر اندازه مختلف حفره ایجاد شده از برش تک‌گزینی بر روی تنوع و ترکیب گونه‌های گیاهی در راشستان صفارود رامسر. پایان‌نامه کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه گیلان، 77 صفحه.
- دلفان اباذری، ب.، ثاقب‌طالبی، خ. و نمیرانیان، م.، 1383. بررسی سطوح حفره‌های زاد‌آوری و وضعیت کمی نهالهای استقرار یافته در قطعه شاهد جنگلهای کلاردشت (طرح لنگا). تحقیقات جنگل و صنوبر ایران، 12 (2): 266-251.
- شعبانی، س.، 1387. رابطه سطح حفره‌های زادآوری با عوامل فیزیوگرافی و پوشش گیاهی در منطقه جنگلی لالیس- نوشهر. پایان‌نامه کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه تربیت مدرس، 80 صفحه.
- غدیری‌پور، پ.، 1382. بررسی تأثیر اندازه حفره‌های طبیعی در وضعیت زادآوری چوبی و علفی در قطعه شاهد جنگل زیارت. پایان‌نامه کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه علوم کشاورزی و منابع طبیعی گرگان، 98 صفحه.
- قمی اویلی، ع.، حسینی، س.م.، متاجی، ا. و جلالی، س.غ.، 1386. بررسی تنوع زیستی گونه‌های چوبی و زادآوری در دو جامعه گیاهی مدیریت شده در منطقه خیرودکنار نوشهر. محیط شناسی، 33 (43): 106-101.
- مروی مهاجر، م.ر.، 1385. جنگل‌شناسی و پرورش جنگل. انتشارات دانشگاه تهران، 387 صفحه.
- مصداقی، م.، 1380. توصیف و تحلیل پوشش گیاهی. انتشارات جهاد دانشگاهی مشهد، 287 صفحه.
- مصدق، ا.، 1375. جنگل‌شناسی. انتشارات دانشگاه تهران، 481 صفحه.
- Albanesi, E., Gugliotta, O.I., Mercurio, I. and Mercurio, R., 2005. Effects of gap size and within-gap position on seedlings establishment in silver fir stands. Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology, 2 (4): 358-366.
- Almquist, B.E., Jack S.B. and Messina, M.G., 2002. Variation of the treefall gap regime in a bottomland hardwood forest: relationships with microtopography. For. Ecol. Manage., 157:      155-163.
- Anderson, K.L. and Leopold, D.J., 2002. The role of canopy gaps in maintaining vascular plant diversity at a forested wetland in New York State. J. Torrey Bot. Soc., 129: 238-250.
- Barton, A.M., 1984. Neotropical pioneer and shade-tolerant tree species: do they partition treefall gaps? Trop. Ecol., 25: 196-202.
- Battaglia, L.L., Sharitz, R.R. and Minchin, P.R., 1999. Patterns of seedling and overstory composition along a gradient of hurricane disturbance in an old-growth bottomland hardwood community. Can. J. For. Res., 29: 144-156.
- Bazzaz, F.A. and Wayne, P.M., 1994. Coping with environmental heterogeneity: the physiological ecology of tree seedling regeneration across the gap-understory continuum. In: Caldwell, M.M. and Pearcy, R.W. (eds.), Exploitation of Environmental Heterogeneity by Plants. Academic Press, New York: 349-390.
- Beatty, S.W. and Stone, E.L., 1986. The variety of soil microsites created by tree falls. Can. J. For. Res., 16: 539-548.
- Beatty, S.W. and Sholes, O.D.V., 1988. Leaf litter effect on plant species composition of deciduous forest treefall pits. Can. J. For. Res., 18: 553-559.
- Beggs, L.R., 2004. Vegetation response following thinning in young Douglas-fir forests of western Oregon: can thinning accelerate development of late- successional structure and composition? M.Sc. thesis, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 95 p.
- Berg, A., Ehnstrom, B., Gustafsson, L., Hallingback, T., Jonsell, M. and Weslien, J., 1994. Threatened plant, animal, and fungus species in Swedish forests: distribution and habitat associations. Cons. Biol., 8: 243-269.
- Bergeron, Y. and Harvey, B., 1997. Basing silviculture on natural ecosystem dynamics: an approach applied to the southern boreal mixedwood forest of Quebec. For. Ecol. Manage., 92: 235-242.
- Brokaw, N.V.L. and Scheiner, S.M., 1989. Species composition in gaps and structure of a tropical forest. Ecology, 70: 538-541.
- Busing, R.T. and White, P.S., 1997. Species diversity and small-scale disturbance in an old-growth temperate forest: a consideration of gap partitioning concepts. Oikos, 78: 562-568.
- Canham, C.D., 1988. Growth and canopy architecture of shade tolerant trees: response to canopy gaps. Ecology, 69: 786-795.
- Carlton, G.C. and Bazzaz, F.A., 1998. Resource congruence and forest regeneration following an experimental hurricane blowdown. Ecology, 79: 1305-1319.
- Clinton, B.D., 2003. Light, temperature, and soil moisture responses to elevation, evergreen understory, and small canopy gaps in the southern Appalachians. For. Ecol. Manage., 186: 243-255.
- Coates K.D. and Burton P.J., 1997. A gap-based approach for development of silvicultural systems to address ecosystem management objectives. For. Ecol. Manage., 99: 337-354.
- Felton, A., Felton, A.M., Wood, J. and Lindenmayer, D.B., 2006. Vegetation structure, phenology, and regeneration in the natural and anthropogenic tree-fall gaps of a reduced-impact logged subtropical Bolivian forest. For. Ecol. Manage., 235: 186-193.
- Franklin, J.F., Spies, T.A., Van Pelt, R., Carey, A.B., Thornburgh, D.A., Berg, D.R., Lindenmayer, D.B., Harmon, M.E., Keeton, W.S., Shaw, D.C., Bible, K. and Chen, J., 2002. Disturbances and structural development of natural forest ecosystems with silvicultural implications, using Douglas-fir forests as an example. For. Ecol. Manage., 155: 399-423.
- Gagnon J.L., Jokele E.J., Moser W.K. and Huber, D.A., 2004. Dynamics of artificial regeneration gaps within a longleaf pine flatwoods ecosystem. For. Ecol. Manage., 172: 133-144.
- Goldblum, D., 1997. The effects of treefall gaps on understorey vegetation in New York State. J. Veg. Sci., 8: 125-132.
- Gray, A.N. and Spies, T.A., 1997. Microsite controls on tree seedling establishment in conifer forest canopy gaps. Ecology, 78: 2458-2473.
- Green, P. and Peterken, G.F., 1997. Variation in the amount of dead wood in the woodlands of the Lower Wye Valley, UK in relation to the intensity of management. For. Ecol. Manage., 98: 229-238.
- Halpern, C.B. and Spies, T.A., 1995. Plant species diversity in natural and managed forests of the Pacific Northwest. Ecol. Appl., 5: 913-934.
- Harmon, M.E., Franklin, J.F., Swanson, F.J., Sollins, P., Gregory, S.V. and Lattin, J.D., 1986. Ecology of coarse woody debris in temperate ecosystems. Adv. Ecol. Res., 135: 133-301.
- Holladay, C.A., Kwit, C. and Collins, B., 2006. Woody regeneration in and around aging southern bottomland hardwood forest gaps: effects of herbivory and gap size. For. Ecol. Manage., 223: 218-225.
- Krasny, M.E. and DiGregorio, L.M., 2001. Gap dynamics in Allegheny northern hardwood forests in the presence of beech bark disease and gypsy moth disturbances. For. Ecol. Manage., 144:     265-274.
- Lertzman, K.P., 1992. Patterns of gap-phase replacement in a subalpine, old-growth forest. Ecology, 73: 657-669.
- Muscolo, A., Sidari, M. and Mercurio, R., 2007. Influence of gap size on organic matter decomposition, microbial biomass and nutrient cycle in Calabrian pine (Pinus laricio Poiret) stands. For. Ecol. Manage., 242: 412-418.
- Naaf, T. and Wulf, M., 2007. Effects of gap size, light and herbivory on the herb layer vegetation in European beech forest gaps. For. Ecol. Manage., 244: 141-149.
- Peet, R.K., 1981. Forest vegetation of the Colorado Front Range. Vegetation, 45: 3-75.
- Peterson, C.J., Carson, W.P., McCarthy, B.C. and Pickett, S.T.A., 1990. Microsite variation and soil dynamics within newly created treefall pits and mounds. Oikos, 58: 39-46.
- Ritter, E., Dalsgaard, L. and Einhorn, K.S., 2005. Light, temperature and soil moisture regimes following gap formation in a semi-natural beech-dominated forest in Denmark. For. Ecol. Manage., 206: 15-33.
- Rose J.E. and Kendle A.D., 2000. The aliens have landed! What are the justification for ”native only” policy in landscape plantings? For. Ecol. Manage., 47: 19-31.
- Royo, A.A. and Carson, W.P., 2006. On the formation of dense understory layers in forests worldwide: consequences and implications for forest dynamics, biodiversity, and succession. Can. J. Forest Res., 36: 1345-1362.
- Schmidt, W., Weitemeier, M. and Holzapfel, C., 1996. Vegetation dynamics in canopy gaps of a beech forest on limestone-the influence of the light gradient on species richness. Verh. Ges. Ökol., 25: 253-260.
- Stewart, G.H., Rose, A.B. and Veblen, T.T., 1991. Forest development in canopy gaps in old-growth beech (Nothofagus) forests, New Zealand. J. Veg. Sci., 2: 679-690.
- Vasiliauskas, R., Vasiliauskas, A., Stenlid, J. and Matelis, A., 2004. Dead trees and protected polypores in unmanaged north-temperate forest stands of Lithuania. For. Ecol. Manage., 193:   355-370.
- Whitmore, T.C., 1989. Canopy gaps and the two major groups of forest trees. In: Platt, W.J. and Strong, D.R. (eds.), Special Feature: Gaps in Forest Ecology. Ecology, 70: 536-538.
- Woods, K.D., 2000. Dynamics in late-successional hemlock-hardwood forests over three decades. Ecology, 81: 110-126.