Structure and plant species diversity of a natural forest community of Parakmeria lotungensis in Northern Fujian Province,China

The plant community of a natural forest with dominant tree species of Parakmeria lotungensis,located in Shaowu,northern Fujian Province,China was sampled by contiguous quadrats technique and the community structure and species diversity were studied.The results showed that there were 42 families of vascular plants including 63 genera and 86 species in the natural forest of P.lotungensis(study area 2 000 m2).There were highly developed tree and shrub layers and poorly developed herb layer in the community.Phanerophytes(87.21%) were dominant life form in this commnuity,and microphanerophytes were dominant in phanerophytes,followed by mesophanerophyte.Species richness,Shannon-Wiener and Simpson' s indices and their Pielou' s evenness indices of plant diversity were in the order:shrub layer tree layer herb layer vine species.There were abundant seedlings(2 434 stems·hm-2),some big trees(75 stems·hm-2),but few young trees(97 stems·hm-2),no middle trees in the P.lotungensis population.Population structure of P.lotungensis was fragmented at middle-tree stage.Although the community was stable then,but P.lotungensis might be replaced by other shade-tolerant evergreen broad-leaved tree species in the long-term succession.