Hung et al. The vegetation of the Machilus-Castanopsis forest zone in Taiwan. In: The East Asian Flora: and its role in the formation of the world’s vegetation

The vegetation of the Machilus-Castanopsis forest zone in Taiwan

Tzung-Tai HUNG¹, Tze-Ying CHEN¹, Chiou-Feng YU² & Ching-Feng LI³
¹ Department of Forest and Nature Resources, National Ilan University, Ilan, Taiwan
² Department of Sience and Technology, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, Taipei, Taiwan
³ Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

The Machilus-Castanopsis forest zone is the major zone of evergreen forest in Taiwan. This study used detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and cluster analysis to process the data of 2286 plots from the Taiwan Vegetation Database. The result of the classification was a synoptic list based on the frequency values of species from various vegetation types. The characteristic species was then determined by the fidelity of species from various vegetation types. All processes are carried out by the two-step method. Based on the Braun-Blanquet system of floristic-sociological classification, similar vegetation types were combined into higher classes by their diagnostic species. DCA found a significant correlation between topography and winter precipitation. The vegetation classification of Machilus-Castanopsis forest zone consists of 47 subassociations. These subassociation can be grouped into 18 associations, characterized respectively by Cyclobalanopsion championii, Castanopsion fabri, Dysoxylo hongkongense-Drypetion karapinensis, Cyclobalanopsio hypophaea-Keteleerion formosanae, Amentotasion formosanae, Castanopsio indica-Litseion akoensis, Symploco congestae-Castanopsion carlesii, Ormosion formosanae, Calocedrion formosanae, Rhododendrion formosanum, Myrsino seguinii-Machilion thunbergii, Castanopsion sessilis, Castanopsio sessilis-Keteleerion formosanae, Turpinio ternatae-Castanopsion carlesii, Cyclobalanopsio longinus-Litseion acuminatae, Fico irisanae-Machilion kusanoi, Phoebo formosanae-Litseion acuminatae and Glycosmio citrifoliae-Dendrocnidion meyenianae. The associations can be grouped into 8 orders including Schimetalia kankaoensis, Neolitsetalia parvigemmae, Ormosietalia formosanae, Castanopsetalia sessilis, Turpinietalia ternatae, Ficetalia irisanae, Litsetalia acuminatae and Dendrocnidetalia meyenianae. These 8 orders can be combined into 3 classes comprising Litsetea acutivenae, Diospyretea morrisianae and Machilietea kusanoi.