Features of evergreen broad leaved forest community in Castanopsis kawakamii Nature Reserve

Based on the data collected from sample plots with an area of 11 000 m2, the species composition, importance values of tree population, physiognomy, species diversity and spatial structure of evergreen broad-leaved forest community in Castanopsis kawakamii Nature Reserve of Sanming, Fujian, were analyzed. The community is composed of 223 vascular plant species belonging to 80 families and 159 genera, 80.5 percent of genera contain only single species. The phanerophytes including the vines take 85.2 percent of the total. The tree populations such as Castanopsis kawakamii, Schima superba, Castanopsis carlesii, Pinus massoniana, Castanopsis eyrei and Randia cochinchinensis are in great important values. The spatial patterns of dominant tree populations conform to aggregated distribution. The vertical structure of community is relatively complicated which can be divided into tree layer, shrub layer and herb layer. The comparative analyzes on life form spectrum and species diversity of the community showed that this forest is a transitional type from south-subtropical rain forest to mid-subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest.