Manuscript_EcoInd_20180913 R3_clean.pdf (1.1 MB)
The accumulation of species and recovery of species composition along a 70 year successional gradient in a tropical secondary forest
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 18:15 authored by Sawaid Abbas, Janet E Nichol, Jinlong Zhang, Gunter A FischerThe majority of global forests are secondary and are at different stages of succession. Assessing the dynamics of species richness and similarity, and quantifying the importance of environmental filtering, dispersal limitation and other stochastic processes are essential to understanding the mechanisms of succession for forest restoration. In this article, we explored the accumulation of species, the relative importance of spatial distance, environmental factors and stand age in determining species composition of a tropical secondary forest succession in Hong Kong. Twenty-eight plots with median age of 7, 20, 39, 61 and over 70?years in the secondary forest were established and surveyed, and the indicator species for each age class were identified. Species composition shows large variation both within and between age classes, while species richness in the old growth forest (>70?yr) was significantly lower than in the mid-age classes. Rarefied species richness showed a rapid accumulation during early succession, but species richness levelled off from 20?yrs onwards. Variation partitioning indicated that spatial distance alone explained 33% of the variation in species composition, followed by environmental distance (8%) and stand age (1%). The results of Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling suggested that idiosyncratic successional pathways and alternative stable states might be prevalent. Our results suggested dispersal limitation was the main limiting factor in explaining the turnover of species during forest succession, while environmental filtering played a lesser role in shaping species distributions. Our results highlight the importance of active restoration in overcoming the barriers of succession in secondary vegetation in the tropics.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
Ecological IndicatorsISSN
1470-160XPublisher
ElsevierExternal DOI
Issue
105524Volume
106Page range
1-10Department affiliated with
- Geography Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2019-07-02First Open Access (FOA) Date
2020-06-29First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2019-07-01Usage metrics
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