[Edge effect of the plant community structure on land-bridge islands in the Thousand Island Lake].
The research was conducted on 29 land-bridge islands in the Thousand Island Lake (TIL), where long-term monitoring plots were set up during 2009-2010. The community attributes including species richness, Shannon index, plant mean height, plant mean diameter at breast height (DBH) and plant density along the edge-interior gradient from edge to interior forest were calculated to investigate the edge effect. The results showed that the species richness and Shannon index were affected through the whole gradient (larger than 50 m), while the range of edge effect was 20-30 m on mean plant height, and 10 m on plant density and mean DBH. Community attributes differed significantly among the edge gradients. The species richness and Shannon index peaked at the intermediate edge gradient. Plant density decreased and plant mean height increased along the edge to interior gradient. All five community attributes were significantly associated with the edge gradient, also different functional groups, evergreen or deciduous species, trees or shrubs, shade tolerant or shade intolerant species, were differentially influenced by the edge effect. It was demonstrated the influence of edge effect on the fragmented forest community varied with community attributes and functional groups.
Xiao-Fei
XF
Su
Jin-Feng
JF
Yuan
Guang
G
Hu
Gao-Fu
GF
Xu
Ming-Jian
MJ
Yu
D002681:China; D017753:Ecosystem; D062312:Islands; D060106:Lakes; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification*; D014197:Trees