Woody plant communities of isolated Afromontane cloud forests in Taita Hills, Kenya
Woody plant communities of isolated Afromontane cloud forests in Taita Hills, Kenya
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DOI：
10.1007/s11258-010-9853-3
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发表时间：
2011-04-01
期刊：
影响因子：
1.7
通讯作者：
Muys, Bart
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Aerts, Raf;Thijs, Koen W.;Muys, Bart
在肯尼亚南部的泰塔山，原始非洲山地森林植被的残余仅限于孤立的山峰。为了评估退化的程度和森林恢复的必要性，我们研究了森林植物群落及其指示物种在云雾森林残留斑块之间和内部的变化。我们使用有序多度数据比较植物群落在8个森林片段。我们还分析了数据的多样性和丰富的树木在57个0.1公顷的地块内，这些片段，Ngangao（120公顷）和Mbololo（220公顷）之间的最大的两个比较树木群落。在景观尺度上，太塔山的现存植被由次生湿润山地到中间山地森林组成。片段之间的种间差异很大（69%）。物种组成的变化与海拔相关的非生物梯度相吻合。在样地水平上，次生演替种和林缘种的数量最多，出现频率最高。推断集群的情节几乎完全符合两个森林片段。与森林边缘和林隙相关的指示物种在两个森林片段中较小的片段中更常见，而较大片段的指示物种在干扰较少的潮湿森林中更典型。非生物站点的变化，但也不同程度的干扰确定特定站点的山地森林的变种。养护工作不仅应注重保持森林数量（规模），而且应注重森林质量（物种组成）。后期演替的雨林物种在Taita山的木本植物群落中代表性不足，迫切需要协助恢复云雾林顶极树种的可行种群。
In the Taita Hills in southern Kenya, remnants of the original Afromontane forest vegetation are restricted to isolated mountain peaks. To assess the level of degradation and the need for forest restoration, we examined how forest plant communities and their indicator species vary between and within remnant patches of cloud forest. We used ordinal abundance data to compare plant communities in eight forest fragments. We also analyzed data on the diversity and abundance of trees in 57 0.1 ha plots to compare tree communities within and between the largest two of these fragments, Ngangao (120 ha) and Mbololo (220 ha). The extant vegetation of the Taita Hills at landscape scale consists of secondary moist montane to intermediate montane forest. There was a high species dissimilarity between fragments (69%). Variation in species composition coincided with an abiotic gradient related to elevation. At plot level, secondary successional species and species of forest edges were most abundant and most frequent. Inferred clusters of plots almost entirely coincided with the two forest fragments. Indicator species associated with forest margins and gaps were more frequent in the smaller of the two forest fragments, while indicators for the larger fragment were more typical for less disturbed moist forest. Abiotic site variability but also different levels of disturbance determine site-specific variants of the montane forest. Conservation efforts should not only focus on maintaining forest quantity (size), but also on forest quality (species composition). Late-successional rainforest species are underrepresented in the woody plant communities of the Taita Hills and assisting restoration of viable populations of cloud forest climax tree species is urgently needed.