Developing phase of China's system of nature reserves in perspective

Up until 2009, 2541 nature reserves had been established in China. However, the process of developing this system of nature reserves was not quite smooth. Various kinds of information related to nature reserves, such as annual growth, the type of nature reserves established, motives behind building a nature reserve, legal instructions and the constitution of government sectors, were collected and analyzed in order to highlight the characteristics of the development of our nature reserve system. As a result, we identify three phases and their characteristics, i.e., the initial phase from 1956 to 1978, the establishment phase from 1979 to 1996 and the management standardization phase from 1997 to 2009, could be clearly identified. It is suggested that since the establishment of this comprehensive structural framework in China, the system should be entering a new developing phase. We recommend that more attentions should be paid on how to guarantee effective management and how nature reserves are able to maintain their value and fulfill their objectives in the future.

Spatial Patterns and Interspecific Associations of Three Canopy Species at Different Life Stages in a Subtropical Forest, China

Spatial patterns of species at different life stages are an important aspect for understanding causal mechanisms that facilitate species co-existence. Using Ripley＇s univariate L（t） and bivariate L12（t） functions, we analyzed the spatial patterns and inter.specific associations of three canopy species at different life history stages in a 20-ha subtropical forest plot in Dinghushan Nature Reserve. Based on diameter at breast height （DBH）, four life stages were distinguished. Castanopsis chinensis and Schima superba showed a unimodal DBH distribution. Engelhardtia roxburghiana showed a bimodal curve. L（t） function analysis showed significantly aggregated distributions of all three species at later life stages and random distribution at early life stages at some scales. From the analysis of L12（t） function, the results showed the positive association was a dominant pattern for most species pairs at most scales but the intensity of association decreases with the increase of life stages. Juveniles of the three species had no negative intra- and interspecific associations with the older life stages. Only premature trees were suppressed by overmature trees at some scales. Considering these results, we found three canopy-dominant species that lacked regeneration. There was no direct competition occurring between understorey individuals. Young trees can grow well under conspecific species with two other species. Longevity and lack of regeneration led to a large number of trees stored in mature and overmature stages, therefore, intra- and inter-competition can be strong at later life stages.

Phylogenetic and climatic constraints drive flowering phenological patterns in a subtropical nature reserve

Aims Exploring flowering patterns and detecting processes are essential when probing into the nature of reproductive traits during the life history and the interactions among different evolutionary clades.such patterns are believed to be influenced by many factors,but quantifying these impacts at the community-level remains poorly understood.Methods We investigated the flowering patterns based on long-term her-barium records in a given area from subtropical forest regions in southern China.We obtained 5258 herbarium voucher specimens collected from the Dinghushan National Nature reserve(DNNr)belonging to 166 families,943 genera and 2059 species and exam-ined the month when each species was flowering during the period 1920-2007.Important Findings The results showed that plants flowered sequentially almost through-out the whole year,showing the characteristics of subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests.Flowering spectrums of the entire flora and the four life forms exhibited a clear unimodality that is probably typical of subtropical forest communities.Flowering pat-terns of the DNNr were positively correlated with mean rainfall,mean air temperature and mean sunshine duration.median flowering dates of the 38 large species-rich families ranged from early april to late august;25 families exhibited significant unimodal distribution patterns,whereas the remaining families were unclear or bimodal.median flowering dates of the 10 most species-rich genera ranged from middle may to later July.While the results are consist-ent with climatic factors playing a general role in flowering patterns,median flowering dates varied significantly among species-rich families and genera,suggesting that phylogenies could provide spe-cific constraints in subtropical forests.