![]() Away from the valley floor the trees are restricted to the moist bottoms of ravines and in contact with seepage water. It is a riparian species that occupies a habitat similar to that of Taxodium distichum the remnant old trees may be the vestiges of an extensive flood plain forest that existed before this valley was transformed to agriculture only a few centuries ago. Though some of the trees of Metasequoia have also been planted, it is likely that the largest and oldest trees in the valley are survivors. Remaining large trees in the valley proper are surrounded by cultivated fields (mainly rice) and both native and introduced tree species, constituting in its most natural state a secondary vegetation. The ecology of Metasequoia in undisturbed valley forests can only be reconstructed from palynological data and from clues obtained from field observations in the lower sections of some little side valleys of the Shuishaba Valley, where relatively undisturbed stands occur on probably suboptimal sites. glyptostroboides in those side valleys of the Xiaohe (Shuisanba) Valley in Lichuan where forest still persists. The prohibition of cutting this species has led to a depletion of the mixed forest, leaving mainly M. Much destruction had been going on especially in the late 1950s with Mao Zhedong's programme of rural iron smelting, while new trees have been planted after this time. It is unclear what is exactly meant with ONMMTs and if these are really all unplanted trees. 7%) from a previous count carried out 20 years earlier. only five ONMMTs were found in Longshan (Hunan) and 28 in Shizu (Chongqing), giving a total of 5393 ONMMTs, a fall in number of 386 (ca. ![]() ![]() The greatest number (counted 2002–03) was in Lichuan (Hubei) with 5360 trees >20 cm d.b.h. (2006) have given a count of "original natural Metasequoia mother trees" (ONMMTs) in the three areas where this species occurs naturally. Endemic to central China: Chongqing (Shizhu), Hubei (Lichuan, Zhonglu), and Hunan (Longshan, Sangzhi).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |