Chamaecyparis forest in Taiwan
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2013 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | There are six species of Chamaecyparis in the world. These species distribute in North America and East Asia. All of them require similar kind of cool, humid and foggy habitats in these regions. Only two of the six species, C. formosana and C. obtusa var. taiwanensis, are in the subtropical mountain region, Taiwan. Chamaecyparis forest in Taiwan is featured by the large trees, multiple-layer structure and highly diverse epiphytes on the trunks and herbs on the ground due to the cloud formation and soil condition. There are still large areas of pristine Chamaecyparis forests remain in the remote mountain region in Taiwan. In this study, we used National Vegetation Database of Taiwan to describe the floristic composition of different Chamaecyparis forest in Taiwan and their possible explanatory environmental variables. Land surface temperature and soil moisture index derived from satellite imagines are the main factors influencing the accompanied woody species among Chamaecyparis forests while the topography which indicates soil condition is the main factor influencing the herb species composition. Spatial structure derived from Principle Coordinates of Neighbor Matrices (PCNM) can explain the beta diversity of Chamaecyparis forests well. This spatial structure might be caused by the spatial structured environmental factors such as cloud and soil chemistry which are not measured in this study or the longevity of the species and their special regeneration regime. |
| Related projects: |