The relationships between environmental and disturbance factors in temperate deciduous forest ecosystem (Amasya/Turkey)

Dudu Duygu Kiliç,Hamdi Güray Kutbay,Burak Sürmen

doi:10.30616/ajb.873328

Abstract

Deciduous forests face many disturbance factors. Grazing and cutting are the leading factors in this disturbance.The study area's vegetation was analyzed using numerical methods to identify plant communities and determine the relationship between environmental gradients and disturbance factors. The species diversity was calculated using alpha and beta diversity indexes. As a result, four different communities were identified in the study area. One of the communities was under grazing pressure while the other community was under cutting pressure. No disturbance factors were found in the remaining two communities. Elevation and soil moisture were found to be important in the distribution of plant communities. pH, soil moisture, soil % N content and canopy factors were found to be important. The highest Shannon-Wienner diversity index values were found in non-cutting and non-grazing forest communities. The lowest Shannon-Wienner diversity index values were found in grazing and cutting forest communities. Unlike the Shannon-Wienner diversity index, the highest beta index values were found in grazing and cutting forest communities. The lowest beta index values were found in non-cutting and non-grazing forest communities.

Highlights

There are significant relationships between plant species and environmental factors in terrestrial ecosystems
In temperate deciduous forests, approximately the 90% of vegetation consists of vascular plant diversity (Whigham, 2004; Gilliam, 2007)
We examined relationships among disturbance, environment factors and biodiversity in the temperate deciduous forest

Summary

Introduction

There are significant relationships between plant species and environmental factors in terrestrial ecosystems. Topography, soil characteristics and climatic conditions are determinants factors affecting plant diversity (Davies et al, 2007; Korkmaz et al, 2016). In temperate deciduous forests, approximately the 90% of vegetation consists of vascular plant diversity (Whigham, 2004; Gilliam, 2007). The composition and diversity of the ground flora in temperate deciduous forests are affected by the composition of the canopy species and soil and climate characteristics (Hunter, 1999; Augusto et al., 2003; Gilliam, 2007; Barbier et al, 2008). Grazing and tree cutting cause complexity and instability in species interactions (Fakhireh et al, 2012; Hüseyinova et al, 2013; Xu et al, 2016; Kılıç et al, 2018). We examined relationships among disturbance (grazing and tree cutting), environment factors (soil pH, soil nitrogen, soil moisture and light availability) and biodiversity in the temperate deciduous forest

Materials and Method

Results

Discussions