Carbon Storage And Biodiversity Of Shrub And Herb Layers Under Quercus Variabilis Forests In The Qinling Mountains

Biodiversity and carbon storage of shrub layer and herb layer under Quercus variabilisforests in the Qinling Mountains were studied and relationship between the biodiversity andcarbon storage were analyzed. The results are as follows:（1） The trends with altitudes on shrub layer biodiversity indices were different for theyoung forests. The shrub layer species richness （S） increased at first and then decreased withthe altitude increasing. There were no clear changes in the Simpson index （D） andShannon-Wiener index （H’）. The Pielou index （J） increased at first and then decreased withthe altitude increasing.For the middle-aged forests, the shrub layer species richness （S） increased with thealtitude increasing. However, there were no obvious variations in the Simpson index （D） andShannon-Wiener index （H’）. The Pielou index （J） did not change with altitude increasing,reduced at an altitude of1052.77m thereafter.For the mature forests, the minimum of shrub species richness index （S） presented at1114.38m and the maximum1495.0m. Simpson index （D） and Shannon-Wiener index （H’）were not obvious tendency. The Pielou index （J） did not change with altitude increasing atfirst, and reduced at an altitude of1495.20m.（2） The biodiversity trends with altitudes on herb layer were different for the youngforests. For species richness （S）, the index increased with the altitude increasing. Thetendencies of Simpson index （D） and Shannon-Wiener index （H’） were not obvious. ThePielou index （J） decreased at first and then increased with the altitude increasing.For the middle-aged forests, the species richness （S） increased with the altitudeincreasing. The tendencies of Simpson index （D） and Shannon-Wiener index （H’） were notobvious. The Pielou index （J） decreased with the altitude increasing.For the mature forests, the species richness index （S） decreased at first and thenincreased with the altitude increasing. The tendencies of Simpson index （D） andShannon-Wiener index （H’） were not obvious, neither the Pielou index （J）.（3） The biodiversity trends with altitudes on shrub and herb layers were different for theyoung forests. The carbon storage of shrub layer increased at first and then decreased with thealtitude increasing. The tendency of carbon storage at herb layer was not obvious. For the middle-aged forests, the carbon storage of shrub layer increased at first and then decreasedwith the altitude increasing, and reached the maximum at1052.77m. The tendency of carbonstorage on herb layer was not obvious. For the mature forests, the carbon storage of shrublayer increased at first and then decreased with the altitude increasing. A slight decreasingtrend could be observed on the herb layer.（4） There was no significant correlation between biodiversity and carbon storage on theshrub and herb layers under Quercus variabilis forests. The regression analysis of shrubbiodiversity indices and carbon storage showed that the regression of the shrub layer was notsignificant, and the regression equation of herb layer was:C （carbon storage）=0.149S+8.499D-2026H′+2.708J_sw-4.975J_si-1.806...