SPECIES DIVERSITY OF SEVEN MAN-MADE BROAD-LEAVED MIXED FORESTS IN SOUTH CHINA

Abstract

Seven man-made broad-leaved mixed forests with an area of 6.4 ha were established in 1964-1979 on an extremely degraded land in south China. The number of species and individuals and Shannon-Wiener Index (H) of the plantations increased gradually after afforestation. The Rvalue of some of the plantations were close to that of the secondary forest. A total of 47 native species invaded and some planted species disappeared in the plantations in 30 years. However, no tree invaded the contrasting barren land since reforestation. This
suggested that the process of natural restoration of the tropical seasonal rain forest is a potentially slow process in the extremely degraded ecosystem, but plant diversity of tropical seasonal rain forest can be restored after afforestation in natural condition. Natural succession cannot be considered as a useful management option in extremely degraded region.