Ecological Studies On The Forest Restoration In Shandong Province, China

Vegetation of Shandong is the typical warm temperate vegetation in China. The degradation of the vegetation in Shandong have become heavier and heavier with the development of human activity. It is extremely important to protect and reconstruct the vegetation in Shandong. The task is arduous. The effective measures for protection, restoration, and reconstruction are earnestly needed. So it is essential to proceed the ecological study of vegetation restoration in Shandong. The thesis studied the actuality of vegetation in Shandong systematically and did case studies in typical vegetation and typical habitats.It is the premise for the vegetation restoration to know the actuality of vegetation in Shandong. The thesis studied the actuality of vegetation in Shandong comprehensively and found that the vascular plants in Shandong belong to 183 families, 897 genus and 2300 species in all. There are many cultivated and alien species in Shandong. The native species in Shandong belongs 154 families, 616 genus and 1656 species in all.The case study of Pinus densiflora in Shandong found that most of the Pinus densiflora in Shandong peninsula was destroyed by the pests disaster of Dendro limus spectabilis and Matsucoocus matsumurae in 1950 to 1970. Pinus thunbergii was planted in the destroyed Pinus densiflora forest after the heavy pests disaster, and mixed forest of Pinus densiflora and Pinus thunbergii was formed. Pinus thunbergii was also planted after the deforestation of Pinus densiflora, but Pinus densiflora came into the arbor level and formed mixed forest of Pinus densiflora and Pinus thunbergii because of the strong ability of naturally renovation of Pinus densiflora.Qurecus forest is the most important vegetation type in the broad-leavedforest in Shandong, and Quercus aculissima forest is the main and typical type in Qurecus forest. Qurecus forest in Shandong includes Quercus acutissima forest and Quercus variabilis forest and Quercus acutissima forest cover the most areas in Qurecus forest in Shandong.Quercus acutissima forest has high economic values. It has strong root system and is a good species for soil and water conservation. The species can mix with other Quercus or Pinus and play important role in the soil and water conservation, amelioration of ecological environment. But there are only 10000 hm2 Quercus acutissima forest now in Shandong. It is necessary to plant Quercus acutissima forest in more areas to increase the contribution of Quercus aculissima forest to the forestry and ecological construction of Shandong. Quercus variabilis forest is another important Quercus forest in Shandong, which covers about 2000hm2n Shandong. Quercus variabilis forest is a comparatively stable plant community mountain of Shandong. The species have no strict demand on the environment and grow rapidly. It can produce lumber, starch, retanning agents, etc. It is also an important species of Shandong hardwood and has similar use with Quercus acutissima. Quercus variabilis, which can bear more drought and leanness, have strong root system, so it can be used for timber forest or for conservation of water and soil and may have a good development in the future.Deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest is an important vegetation type in Shandong and should be paid more attention. The deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest had higher species diversity and complex community structure than other broad-leaved forest. It had diverse types and its distribution pattern can reflect the relationship between vegetation and environment. It's formation and development provided good study case for the investigation of restoration of forest vegetation in Shandong and vegetation succession in Shandong. So the study of deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest is importantfor the community theory and the practice. Although the deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest in Shandong is not common and its community area is not very large, its importance for community ecology and practice is self-evident. So the deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest in Shandong should be studied, protected and developed. The study of the basic rule of its formation and development process can provide scientific base for its protection and development. Its protection and development in turn can provide good base sampling plots for the scientific study and teaching practice. And the development deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest can increase the forest coverage of Shandong, enlarge its ecological and social benefits, and also can improve economic value.Grass thicket is one of the widely distributed natural vegetation types, which distributes mostly in mountains in Central Southern and Eastern Shandong. Poaceae grass thicket played a major role in the grass thicket of Shandong. This kind of grass thicket distributes mostly in mountains in Central Southern Shandong and Eastern Shandong, and its edificator is Themeda triandra var. japonica or Bothriochloa ischaemum. Grass thicket with the edificatory of Bothriochloa ischaemum distributes mostly in mountains in Central Southern Shandong, while Grass thicket with the edificatory of Themeda triandra var. japonica distributed in everywhere the Shandong. The habitat of grass thicket in Shandong is mostly limestone mountains, covers more than 4 million Mu, which is more than 60% of the bare mountain of Shandong, about 90% of limestone mountains of Shandong. So this vegetation type not only occupies an important position in the vegetation of Shandong, but also has great influence on the economic development, the preservation of ecological environment, and restoration and reconstruction of vegetation. The deep research of the natural vegetation of the grass thicket in Shandong can contribute to the vegetation restoration of limestone mountains of Shandong.Based on investigation of 26 offshore islands in Shandong province, the island ecology of biodiversity hotspots was studied. The results showed that the relationship between the richness of species and the area of island was significantly positive. The study of island ecology suggests that the nature reserve establishment is the most effective approach for biodiversity conservation and moderate species extinction speed. The nature reserves in Shandong still have following problems: (1) The nature reserve types are too few. There are too few reserves for the protection of zonal vegetation, special habitats, rare and endangered Plants. (2) The nature reserves were not distributed reasonably. There are too few nature reserves in the arid inland while their plant flora and habitat types have representative and endemism. (3) The base for scientific research is weak;Most of the nature reserves do not proceed scientific research at all. (4) The nature reserves are separate and lack integrated planning after the establishment.The research on the vegetation in limestone mountains in Shandong shows that the vegetation in limestone mountains in Shandong is heavily degraded now. So the vegetation restoration is urgent. The flora in this area is mostly temperate types according to the investigation of four typical limy areas. The investigation found that there are four kinds of community types. The interspecific association shows the relations between ten dominant tree species, which includes arbor, shrub and herbaceous species. This association can help to choose the positive association species group according to the environment conditions, avoiding the negative association species group when restoring the vegetation in the limy hills in Shandong.The investigation of the vegetation restoration method in Shandong shows that: Vegetation restoration should accord with ecological rules. Forest types are related to the environment. The restoration target should be made according to the soil conditions and climatic conditions. The ecologicalconditions determined that the vegetation in Shandong should be deciduous broad-leaf forest and temperate coniferous forest. Although most of the natural vegetation in Shandong was destroyed by human activity now, the restoration of deciduous broad-leaf forest is possible. In the ecological restoration, the native plants should be the first choice and be the target of the restoration. Miyawaki's method may be the best strategy to restore the native plants in Shandong. The groups of appropriate species for the forest vegetatidn restoration should be diverse species, diverse levels, and diverse functions. The restoration with one species and one level can have some benefits in a short time, but this kind of forest is not stable in the long run and can be easily disturbed or destroyed. So the target of vegetation preserve should be diverse species and diverse levels from the beginning.