Plant diversity patterns of temperate forests with logging and restoration practices in northwest China

Abstract

Logging and restoration practices have significant impacts on the biodiversity of forest ecosystems. We studied the plant diversity patterns in temperate forests with different logging and restoration histories: the primary forest (no logging history), the secondary forest (natural recovery after logging) and the plantation forest (human planting after logging). In 2014 and 2015, we selected 12 plots with 24 trees, 48 shrub and 48 grass-herb quadrates on the southern slope of the Qinling Mountains in northwest China. We measured tree, shrub and grass-herb species in selected quadrates. Our results showed that: (1) the diversity indexes of the secondary and plantation forests were not significantly lower than those of the primary forests; (2) the secondary forest had the highest tree and shrub species richness, followed by the low-elevation primary forest and the plantation forest respectively; (3) the high-elevation primary forest had the most unique tree and grass-herb species while the low-elevation primary forest had the most unique shrub species; and (4) compared with the primary forests, the species composition similarity indexes of the secondary forest and plantation forest had little difference. Our results indicate that primary forests play an irreplaceable role in forest biodiversity whereas secondary forests and plantation forests are still of biodiversity importance. We suggest that primary forests should be prioritized for protection while natural recovery as secondary forests in Qinling temperate region is an effective approach for maintaining biodiversity.