Spatial distribution pattern of the dominant species Gironniera subaequalis in tropical montane rainforest of Jianfengling, Hainan Island, China

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1258.2014.00122

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Dominant species play a major role in the formation of community. Our objectives were to detect and assess the spatial pattern of Gironniera subaequalis, which is a dominant species with the second largest importance value in the tropical montane rainforest of Jianfengling, and to explore the effects of environmental heterogeneity, density-dependent mortality and dispersal limitation on the formation of its current spatial pattern.

Methods 10022 individuals were categorized into six size classes and three life-history stages, i.e. young trees, middle-aged trees and adult trees, respectively. The spatial pattern of each age class was analyzed by pair-correlation function. The spatial associations between paris of life-history stages were analyzed by bivariate pair-correlation function and mark-connection function. The impacts of topographic factors on the distributions of young trees, middle-aged trees and adult trees were analyzed by Berman test.

Important findings Results showed that the size classes I, II, III, and IV of G. subaequalis occurred in aggregated distributions. The aggregation intensities declined with increasing size classes. Size classes V and VI exhibited a uniform distribution at the smaller scales and a random distribution mainly at the larger scales. Young trees and middle-aged trees had a positive association; whereas young trees and adult trees had a negative association. Middle-aged trees and adult trees had a negative association at smaller scales and a weakly positive association at larger scales. The individuals of different life-history stages were separated from each other. There were no direct facilitative interactions between pairs of individuals. The tree topographic factors, slope degree, altitude and concave-convex, had significant impacts on the distribution of small trees; slope degree and concave-convex had significant impacts on the distribution of the middle-aged trees; whilst only slope degree had significant impacts on the adults trees. We inferred that the environmental heterogeneity and density-dependent mortality contributed to current spatial pattern of G. subaequalis, while the effects of dispersal limitation were not obvious.

Key words: Gironniera subaequalis, point pattern analysis, size class, spatial pattern of population, topographic factor

LIANG Shuang, XU Han, LIN Jia-Yi, LI Yi-De, LIN Ming-Xian. Spatial distribution pattern of the dominant species Gironniera subaequalis in tropical montane rainforest of Jianfengling, Hainan Island, China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2014, 38(12): 1273-1282.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.3724/SP.J.1258.2014.00122

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2014/V38/I12/1273

Figures/Tables 7

Table 1 Quantitative indices of Gironniera subaequalis in community

	重要值 Importance value	相对胸高断面积 Relative cross-section area at the breast height	相对密度 Relative density	相对频度 Relative frequency
数值 Value	3.01	5.50	2.28	1.24
在样地内的排名 Relative position of all species	2	2	9	4

Table 2 Classification of life-history

	幼树 Young trees (44%)		中龄树 Middle-aged trees (34.8%)		成年树 Adult trees (21.2%)
	径级I Class I	径级II Class II	径级III Class III	径级IV Class IV	径级V Class V	径级VI Class VI
胸径 DBH	1 cm ≤ DBH < 5 cm	5 cm ≤ DBH < 10 cm	10 cm ≤ DBH < 15 cm	15 cm ≤ DBH < 20 cm	20 cm ≤ DBH < 25 cm	DBH ≥ 25 cm
株数 Number of stems	2 503	1 948	1 830	1 655	1 194	932

Fig. 1 Spatial distribution of all stems of Gironniera subaequalis. Young trees are marked by the triangles; middle-aged trees are marked by the black dots; and adult trees are marked by the squares.

Fig. 2 Univariate pair-correlation functions of different age classes of Gironniera subaequalis. Solid lines are pair-correlation functions, and dotted lines are 99% confidence envelopes. Null models: complete spatial randomness (CSR) and Heterogeneous Poisson (HP) with sigma = 15 m.

Fig. 3 Bivariate pair-correlation functions between pairs of life-history stages of Gironniera subaequalis. Solid lines are bivariate pair-correlation functions and dotted lines are 99% confidence envelopes. A, Relationship between young trees and middle-aged trees with envelopes calculated by complete spatial randomness null model. B, Relationship between young trees and middle-aged trees with envelops calculated by antecedent condition null model. C, Relationship between young trees and adult trees with envelopes calculated by complete spatial randomness null model. D, Relationship between young trees and adult trees with envelops calculated by antecedent condition null model. E, Relationship between middle-aged trees and adult trees with envelopes calculated by complete spatial randomness null model. F, Relationship between middle-aged trees and adult trees with envelops calculated by antecedent condition null model.

Fig. 4 The mark-connection functions P(r). A, Probabilities by randomly choosing two individuals (separated by distance r) from all young trees and middle-aged trees, when both are young trees. B, Probabilities by randomly choosing two individuals (separated by distance r) from all young trees and middle-aged trees, when one is a young tree and the other is a middle-aged tree. C, Probabilities by randomly choosing two individuals (separated by distance r) from all young trees and middle-aged trees, when both are middle-aged trees. D, Probabilities by randomly choosing two individuals (separated by distance r) from all young trees and adult trees, when both are young trees. E, Probabilities by randomly choosing two individuals (separated by distance r) from all young trees and adult trees, when one is a young tree and the other is an adult tree. F, Probabilities by randomly choosing two individuals (separated by distance r) from all young trees and adult trees, when both are adult trees. G, Probabilities by randomly choosing two individuals (separated by distance r) from all middle-aged trees and adult trees, when both are middle-aged trees. H, Probabilities by randomly choosing two individuals (separated by distance r) from all middle-aged trees and adult trees, when one is a young tree and the other is an adult tree. I, Probabilities by randomly choosing two individuals (separated by distance r) from all middle-aged trees and adult trees, when both are adult trees. Solid lines are mark-connection functions, and dotted lines are 99% confidence envelopes.

Table 3 Influences of topographic factors on the distribution of the individuals in each life history stage of Gironniera subaequalis

	幼树 Young tree	中龄树 Middle-aged tree	成年树 Adult tree
坡度 Slope	+	+	+
海拔 Elevation	+	-	-
凹凸度 Convex	+	+	-

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