Roles of culturally protected forests in biodiversity conservation in southeast China

Background/Question/Methods

Culturally protected forests (CPFs), preserved and managed by local people on the basis of traditional practices and beliefs, have both social and ecological functions. They are located besides or around the villages or temples, and have been preserved or maintained for several decades or even centuries. Some CPFs have a higher biodiversity than the other types of forests and preserve a myriad of indigenous species which generating worldwide interest. However, studies only have concerned ethnic minority areas in China, and lack quantitative descriptions and comparisons of community structure, species composition and biodiversity with forests that do not have cultural protection (NCPFs). We investigated alpha and beta diversity within the tree layer, shrub layer and herb layer in three types of CPFs (community forests, ancestral temple forests, cemetery forests) and nearby NCPFs in Southeast China. The sample size is fifty plots with area of 20 m×20 m within the patches of CPFs and NCPFs.

Results/Conclusions

A total of 355 species belonging to 85 families and 181 genera were recorded in CPFs, including eight nationally protected species, compared with 300 species belonging to 82 families and 167 genera, including three nationally protected species, in NCPFs. The tree layer of CPFs, DBH was relatively large, especially in the cemetery forests, and species density was relatively lower.The species composition in the shrub layer was similar, but the CPFs had more species. The species composition in the herb layer was complex. With one exception, higher alpha diversity values were found in CPFs. This difference was significant for 20 out of 45 index values. The highest similarity of beta diversity among CPFs and NCPFs was found in the shrub layer, although the tree layer and herb layer had more unique species, with CPFs including nearly 80% of the tree species known from the region. We conclude that local CPFs harbor higher biodiversity values than local forests that lack cultural protection and contribute to the conservation of a substantial proportion of the regional species pool.