Landscape pattern and diversity of natural secondary forests in the eastern mountainous region, northeast China: A case study of Mao'ershan region in Heilongjiang Province

摘要

Mao'ershan region is a representative natural secondary forested region in the eastern mountainous region, northeast of China. Under the support of ARC/INFO, the landscape pattern and landscape diversity of Mao'erhshan region were studied by combiningthe forest type map (1:10000), which was drawn from the aerial photographs (1099), field investigation and land utilization map (1:10 000). The selected indices included patch number, patch size, patch density index, richness index, dominance index, evenness index and diversity index. The results showed that the landscape dominant forest type in Mao'ershan region was softwood broad-leaved forest. In all landscape types, the average patch area of natural secondary forests was bigger than that of artificial forest. The patch density index of each landscape formed in artificial forest was higher than that of natural secondary forest. The landscape diversity index and landscape evenness index of natural forest were highest, the landscape heterogeneity wasalso, but the landscape dominance was lower. In natural forest, the control effects of landscape elements on landscape-structure, function and its change were weakened. The artificial forest was on the contrary.