A Tropical Montane Evergreen Forest and other Vegetation on Hainan Island, southern China

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Contribution from the Department of Vegetation Science, Institute of Environmental Science & Technology, Yokohama Natlonal University No.206.The original vegetation of Hainan included diverse tropical lowland and montane forests, most of which were converted to rubber plantations or other economic use since 1950. An area of remaining evergreen low-montane forest at Jianfengling nature reserve, in the mountains of southwestern Hainan, was studied and described by the Braun-Blanquet method for comparison with similar forests elsewhere. The most important canopy tree is Dacrydium pierrei (Podocarpaceae), along with Xanthophyllum hainanense, Lithocarpus fenzelianus, and Polyspora (Gordonia) balanse, making this site quite typical of "low montane rain forest" on Hainan. The relative lack of lianas and epiphytes in the upper layers conflicts with the usual concept of rainforest, however, and suggests rather a montane version of the "seasonal evergreen forest" type which is widespread in tropical Asia. The canopy structure and lack of seedlings at Jianfengling suggest that the forest is mature, though perhaps subject to some disturbance as by typhoons. Much of lowland and lower montane Hainan is now covered by rubbe-tea plantations or by secondary scrub dominated by Australian species.
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