Functional diversity and conservation of phellodendron amurense communities in the dongling mountain of Beijing, China

Abstract

Functional diversity is important to ecological processes and functioning of plant communities. The interaction of functional diversity with environmental variables in Phellodendron amurense (an endangered species) communities in the Dongling Mountain was analyzed. Twenty-five 10 m × 20 m-plots were established in P. amurense communities and species composition, traits and environmental variables were measured and recorded. A new index based on Self-Organized Feature Map theory (SOFM index) for measuring functional diversity was introduced, and other six common indices were used in the analysis of functional diversity. The results showed that Self-Organized Feature Map index was an effective method in functional diversity studies. Functional diversity in P. amurense communities varied greatly; functional diversity increased linearly with elevation; it was negatively correlated with aspect, litter and slope position, and positively correlated with species richness. Functional diversity showed significant, negative effects on the importance values of P. amurense, which suggested that functional diversity should be maintained in a suitable extent for conservation purpose.