Indicator Species Analysis of Forest Communities along a Disturbance Gradient in Guangzhou, China

In order to reveal the effect of disturbance on species composition and detect indicator species for disturbance gradients, we conducted an investigation of urban forest communities along a disturbance gradient in Guangzhou, China. Species richness in the tree layer and understory had no significant difference among disturbance gradients, but Simpson index, Shannon-Weiner index and Evenness index varied significantly.species diversity index decreased with disturbance gradient. Multi-Response Permutation Procedures (MRPP) revealed high significance in species composition of both tree and understory layer among different disturbance gradients. Twelve species from the tree layer and 25 from the understory were detected to characterize the forest communities with a certain disturbance regime by Indicator Species Analysis (ISA). Indicator species help enhance our understanding of species-environment relationship, and the ecological response of indicator species to disturbance can be used for monitoring forest environmental change.