Relationships between ecosystem functioning and species diversity

Mt. Wuyi have preserved the most complete, typical and largest subtropical primary forest ecosystem in the same latitude zone of the world. However, knowledge of this unique ecosystem functioning is largely limited. To explore the relationships between species diversity and ecosystem functioning are of great significance to protect the evergreen broad-leaved forest. Based on forest dynamics plot dataset, the Shannon-Wiener index, Pielou evenness index and species richness of 9.6 hm2 trees with DBH≥1 cm at Wuyi Mountains were calculated on large scale (20 m×20 m), medium scale (10 m×10 m) and small scale (5 m×5 m). Using generalized linear regression model (GLM) to determine relationships between species diversity and productivity/ biomass under the different scales. Our results showed that positive relationship between species diversity and biomass, but positive and no relationship were found between species diversity and productivity in a subtropical broad-leaved forest on Mt. Wuyi. Different sampling scales may have an impact on the relationship between species diversity and productivity. These results suggest that species diversity is not the only factor affecting productivity, and implies that the positive correlation between species diversity and ecosystem functioning may be also mediated by abiotic factors. The results of this study may be contribute to an important theoretical basis and detailed data support for the protection of subtropical evergreen broad-leaved, and also provide a theoretical basis for actively building mixed forests of different ages, constructing artificial forest communities and carrying out vegetation restoration in the same latitude area.