Woody Floristic Composition, Size Class Distribution and spatial Pattern of a Subtropical Lowland Rainforest at Nanjen Lake, Southernmost Taiwan

A permanent 2.21 ha plot of lowland subtropical rainforest was established at Nanjen Lake of the Nanjenshan Nature Reserve in southern Taiwan. All free-standing woody plants in the plot with DBH  1 cm were identified, measured, tagged, and mapped. A total of 120 tree species (21,592 stems), belonging to 44 families and 83 genera, was recorded. The community structure was characterized by a relative dominance of Castanopsis carlesii in the canopy, Illicium arborescens in the subcanopy, and Psychotria rubra in the understory. The dominant families were Fagaceae, Illiciaceae, Aquifoliaceae, Lauraceae and Theaceae. However, typical species of lowland area in Taiwan, such as members of Euphorbiaceae and Moraceae, were relatively rare. Thus, floristic composition of this area was comparable with that found in some of the subtropical rain forests or even warm-temperate rain forests of the Central Range in Taiwan. The analysis of size-class distributions of individual species showed good recruitment patterns with a rich sapling bank for each species. TWINSPAN analysis revealed four distinct groups of samples, with the ridge top and northwest streamside plant communities representing two opposite extremes of the gradient. The dominant families of the ridge group were Fagaceae, Illiciaceae, Theaceae, Aquifoliaceae and Lauraceae, whereas those dominating the streamside group were Rubiaceae, Araliceae, Lauraceae, Fagaceae, and Staphyleaceae. Most species had a patchy distribution and many were distributed randomly. Among those with a patchy distribution, Cyclobalanopsis championii and Rhododendron simsii only occurred on the ridge top, while Drypetes karapinensis and Ficus fistulosa occurred along the streamside. Illicium arborescens and Ilex cochinchinensis were commonly distributed on the intermediate slope. Species that appeared to be randomly or near-randomly distributed over the plot included Schefflera octophylla and Daphniphyllum glaucescens ssp. oldhamii. The distribution patterns of species also suggested that there was strong niche differentiation among species. It is found that the community of Nanjenshan forest is organized by different topographic plant associations. Maintenance of tree species diversity in the forests is largely due to differentiated environmental factors related to plot topography