Changes in biodiversity and ecosystem function during the restoration of a tropical forest in south china  

作　　者：REN Hai,LI ZhiAn,SHEN WeiJun,YU ZuoYue,PENG ShaoLin,LIAO ChongHui,DING MingMao & WU JianGuo 1 South China Botanical Garden,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Guangzhou 510650,China 2 Institute of Ecology and Evolution,Zhongshan University,Guangzhou 510275,China 3 Guangdong Institute of Entomology,Guangzhou 510275,China 4 School of Life Sciences and Global Institute of Sustainability,Arizona State University,Tempe,AZ 85287,USA 

出　　处：《Science China(Life Sciences)》2007年第2期277-284,共8页中国科学（生命科学英文版）

基　　金：the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.30200035 and 30670370);Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province(Grant No. 021627);Field Station Fund of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,and theChinese Academy of Sciences Advisory Program (Grant Nos. KSCX2-SW-132 andKSCX2-SW-133)

摘　　要：Tropical forests continue to vanish rapidly,but few long-term studies have ever examined if and how the lost forests can be restored.Based on a 45-year restoration study in south China,we found that a tropical rain forest,once completely destroyed,could not recover naturally without deliberate restoration efforts.We identified two kinds of thresholds that must be overcome with human ameliorative measures before the ecosystem was able to recover.The first threshold was imposed primarily by extreme physical conditions such as exceedingly high surface temperature and impoverished soil,while the second was characterized by a critical level of biodiversity and a landscape context that accommodates dispersal and colonization processes.Our three treatment catchments(un-restored barren land,single-species plantation,and mixed-forest stand)exhibited dramatically different changes in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning over 4 decades.The mixed forest,having the highest level of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning,possesses several major properties of tropical rain forest.These findings may have important implications for the restoration of many severely degraded or lost tropical forest ecosystems.Tropical forests continue to vanish rapidly,but few long-term studies have ever examined if and how the lost forests can be restored.Based on a 45-year restoration study in south China,we found that a tropical rain forest,once completely destroyed,could not recover naturally without deliberate restoration efforts.We identified two kinds of thresholds that must be overcome with human ameliorative measures before the ecosystem was able to recover.The first threshold was imposed primarily by extreme physical conditions such as exceedingly high surface temperature and impoverished soil,while the second was characterized by a critical level of biodiversity and a landscape context that accommodates dispersal and colonization processes.Our three treatment catchments(un-restored barren land,single-species plantation,and mixed-forest stand)exhibited dramatically different changes in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning over 4 decades.The mixed forest,having the highest level of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning,possesses several major properties of tropical rain forest.These findings may have important implications for the restoration of many severely degraded or lost tropical forest ecosystems.

关 键 词：RAINFOREST RESTORATION BIODIVERSITY conservation ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING China 

分 类 号：Q948[生物学—植物学]