Abstract

Question: Do tree and shrub species in an evergreen broad-leaved forest show similar habitat associations across different life stages?

Location: A 24-ha evergreen broad-leaved forest plot in a heterogeneous landscape in Gutianshan National Nature Reserve, ZhejiangProvince, eastern China

Methods: Species' positive associations with four habitat types (low valley, low ridge, upper valley, and upper ridge) at three life stages (sapling, juvenile and mature stages) were compared for 60 tree and shrub species by torus-translation tests.

Results: A total of 117 significant positive associations with four habitats were observed at the three life stages (43, 41 and 33 at the sapling, juvenile and mature stages respectively). For the 52 species significantly associated with habitats, only sixteen were associated with the same habitat across three stages. The majority of associated species at the juvenile stage (34 out of 40) were associated with the same habitat at their sapling stage, whereas half of associated species at the mature stage had consistent associations with the same habitat at their sapling stages. More species were associated with upper ridge at the sapling and juvenile stages compared to the mature stage. Conversely, more species were associated with low valley at the mature stage compared to the sapling and juvenile stages.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that species’ ecological habitat associations can differ between developmental stages beyond 1 cm DBH, as most species’ habitat preferences were consistent from the sapling stage to the juvenile stage but they changed at the mature stage.  

Key words: environmental heterogeneity, evergreen broad-leaved forest, habitat preference, life-history, species distributions; topography