Ecological Monitoring And Assessment On The Ancient Trees In Beijing

As natural and cultural heritage, ancient trees are worth of great conservation. Mechanisms of conservation and management on ancient trees were discussed from five respects, including classification, ecological monitoring, health diagnosis, risk assessment and value assessment.Classification of the ancient trees was established respectively based on age, location, value, distribution and health conditions. The monitoring index systerm was suggested in this paper and program of ecological monitoring on the ancient trees was discussed from four respects, which were investigation of underground information, study on distribution pattern, monitoring on growth characteristics and morphology.The process of health diagnosis was consisted of primary diagnosis, further diagnosis and health identification, the health condition of trees was determined by morphology, physiological indicators and soil quality. Ancient trees risk matrix was established for risk assessment, which construted the ancient tree risk management program, along with tree inspection and tree risk treatment.The value of the ancient trees was constructed by natural value,cultural value and landscape value. According to value, the ancient trees were classified into three types including A-level, AA-level and AAA -level.Program of ecological monitoring on ancient trees was practiced in ecological monitoring on the ancient Plalycladus orientails group in Jingfu Temple area of Beijing Xishan Experimental Forest Farm and Pinus tabuliformis in Songshan National Nature Reserve. Results showed that the ancient tree group were growing well in this area with less weak appearance; Distribution pattern of Plalycladus orientails was shifted from clumped distribution to random distribution with the increase of diameter size. Regression relationship between tree height(H) and diameter at breast height (DBH), height below branch (HBB), crown breadth (CB) of both ancient and non-ancient Plalycladus orientails were established, it was suggested that correlation between H and CB of the ancient Plalycladus orientails was negative. By Richards equation, relations between current annual increment and mean increment of both Plalycladus orientails in Xishan and Pinus tabuliformis in Songshan were discussed, conclusions showed that the mature age of Plalycladus orientails in Xishan was about 40a, the mature age of Pinus tabuliformis in Songshan was about 27a..