Construction of biodiversity protection value model for forest based on habitat quality

ObjectiveThe traditional forest biodiversity conservation value lacks the unified evaluation standard, which is not convenient for comparison of results. At present, the models of the species protection value mainly calculate the current protection value of forests by the richness of forest, but do not consider the potential impacts of the types of land use on the growth process of tree species, they cannot measure the long-term protection value of forests. In recent years, new theories of biodiversity value evaluation have been gradually improved, but the method which is suitable for assessing the protection value of forest biodiversity has not yet existed.

MethodWe calculated and graded the habitat quality by analyzing the land use in Fujian Province of southern China and firstly proposed the adjustment coefficient of habitat quality. The biodiversity conservation value model of forest based on the habitat quality was constructed by the geographical correspondence between habitat quality and forest distribution (HQ-BPV model), it integrated the impact of land use into the assessment of forest biodiversity protection value of Fujian Province.

Result(1) The distribution of habitat quality in Fujian Province is generally high in the north and low in the south, high in the inland and low in the coastal areas, and low in the nature reserves and non-nature reserves. (2) The average habitat quality of the main plant types in Fujian Province was ranked in the descending order and be presented as theropencedrymion > bamboo forest > broadleaved mixed forest > broadleaved forest > bushwood > coniferous forest > economic forest. (3) After adjustment, the species of Quercus spp. and Castanopsis spp. had the highest protection value per unit area, which was 35 800 CNY/ha, the broadleaved mixed forest had the highest protection value, which was 65 842 million CNY by comparing with each dominant tree species (set), the total biodiversity conservation value of the forest in Fujian Province was 205.639 billion CNY.

ConclusionHQ-BPV model is constructed based on the habitat quality index, which can quantify the impact of land use for evaluating the protection value of forest biodiversity in Fujian Province. It provides new ideas for the protection value accounting of forest biodiversity and is useful for the forest resource monitoring and the structure optimization.