Role of culturally protected forests in biodiversity conservation in Southeast China

Abstract

Culturally protected forests (CPFs), preserved and managed by local people on the basis of traditional practices and beliefs, have both social and ecological functions. We investigated plant species richness and diversity within the tree layer, shrub layer and herb layer in three types of CPFs (community forests, ancestral temple forests, cemetery forests) as well as nearby forests without cultural protection (NCPFs) in Southeast China. A total of 325 species belonging to 85 families and 187 genera were recorded in CPFs, including 17 protected species in China Species Red List and IUCN Red List, which accounted for 17 % of counties' endangered species. Compared with NCPFs, the tree layer of CPFs had larger DBH and lower species density, especially in the cemetery forests. CPFs had higher alpha diversity values generally, particularly in the tree layer. The differences in tree layer were substantial, and CPFs covered nearly 85.4 % of the tree species in the surveyed sites. The similarities between CPFs and NCPFs were higher in the herb and shrub layers than in the tree layer. These differences of species diversity may be attributed to differences in resource use and management between CPFs and NCPFs. Our field investigation results suggested that local CPFs harbor many plant species, high biodiversity, and contribute to the conservation of a substantial proportion of the local species pool.

Conservation of the Ethiopian church forests: Threats, opportunities and implications for their management

“…Brandt et al 2013;Gao et al 2013;Gunaga et al 2013;Allendorf et al 2014) and Africa (e.g. Mgumia and Oba 2003;Campbell 2004;Sheridan and Nyamweru 2007;Kokou et al 2008;Tankou et al 2014).…”

Heavy Metal Contamination in Soils of Remnant Natural and Plantation Forests in an Urbanized Region of the Pearl River Delta, China

“…Although forest remnants are typically small patches, they can provide important ecological services that improve human well-being in urban areas. They can, for example, improve urban air quality, ameliorate the heat island effect, preserve biodiversity, and provide wood products, recreational venues, and landscape aesthetics [1][2][3][4]. For these reasons, multidisciplinary studies have increasingly focused on the sustainability and conservation of these forests [1][2][3]5,6].…”

The Contribution of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Practices to Forest Management: The Case of Northeast Asia

“…Monitoring studies have detected higher biodiversity and habitat connectivity in traditionally protected forests than in disturbed forests [33,42,54]. Such traditionally protected forests also appear to enhance village microclimates by controlling wind speed and air humidity [25,31].…”

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