[Dynamics of species diversity in artificial restoration process of subalpine coniferous forest]

Through plot investigation and by adopting the concept of space as a substitute for time, the developments of species diversity of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants in subalpine coniferous plantations at different restoration stages were studied, and the correlation coefficients of species in each layer were discussed. The results indicated that in the restoration process, the species richness, diversity and evenness in subalpine coniferous plantations were gradually increased in a fluctuating way. The restoration process of Picea asperata plantations showed a tendency of development that in favor of resuming species diversity. The indices of species richness (species number and Margalef index) and species diversity (Shannon-Wiener index and Simpson index) of trees increased rapidly from the early stages of plantation establishment to the stage of canopy closing (about 30 yr of stand age) and then presented a tendency of decrease with some slight fluctuations, while the index of species evenness showed a periodical rising trend. For the shrub layer, the indices of species richness (Simpson index and Macintosh index) gradually increased with increasing restoration years, whereas the indices of species diversity (Shannon-Wiener index) decreased in the early stages, sharply increased during the stages of canopy closing, and then slowly decreased, which exhibited a tendency of high-->low-->high. In the layer of herbaceous plants, the indices of species richness (Margalef index and number of species) and species diversity (Simpson index, Macintosh index and Shannon-Wiener index) presented a trend of decrease in the early stages of plantations establishment to canopy closing and increased later on. During this process, herbaceous species and their life forms changed greatly, with shade tolerant species gradually substituting the intolerant species. Among the plantations of different stand ages, the average correlation coefficients of trees, shrubs and herbaceous species were 41.88%, 50.61% and 37.22%, respectively, indicating that in the 70 years of artificial forest restoration, the continuity and stability of shrub species were the highest, those of herbaceous species showed greatest fluctuation because of the disappearance and regeneration occurred with the alteration of the environmental conditions of plantations, and those of the trees were intermediary.