Relationship between species diversity and biomass of evergreen broadleaf forests in the Central-Central Highlands

Abstract

Species diversity and forest biomass represent the stability of the forest ecosystem in general and the evergreen broadleaf forest ecosystem in particular. This study was carried out on three different geographical regions of the Central-Central Highlands region, namely Quang Binh, Thua Thien Hue and Gia Lai. The study used survey data of all small-diameter trees from 03 large size plots to study the relationship between species diversity, phylogenetic diversity and above ground biomass. The indices of species diversity, phylogenetic diversity and terrestrial biomass were calculated and compared statistically. The results showed that: (i) There was a significant difference in species diversity between the study plots; (ii) Phylogenetic clustering and overdispersion were found in the study plots; (iii) There was no significant correlation between species diversity and aboveground biomass in all three study plots. These results show that: (i) Habitat factors have affected the diversity and phylogenetic diversity of the studied forest plant communities; (ii) Additional studies are needed in the direction of combining habitat factors such as climate, topography and soil with forest succession stages to find out the correlations between biotic factors and infertile.