Prof. Cao Min’s research team has been long engaging in the studies on the dynamics of subtropical and tropical forests in Yunnan province, SW China. They hypothesized that fragmentation of continuous forests significantly increases both the richness and the size of soil seed banks of nonconstituent species. They also found that forest edges do not act as good barrier for the penetration of non-forest species seeds into the interior gradients.
The research team has primarily set up index measurement systems for human disturbance in different ecological groups.
Parts of the research results on forest fragmentation and edge effects have been published in such peer-reviewed journals as Canadian Journal of Forest Research and Forest Ecology and Management.
Luxiang Lin, Min Cao, Yongtao He, Jerry M. Baskin, and Carol C. Baskin Nonconstituent species in soil seed banks as indicators of anthropogenic disturbance in forest fragments. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 36(9): 2300–2316 (2006). doi:10.1139/X06-137
Luxiang Lin, Min Cao* Edge effects on soil seed banks and understory vegetation in subtropical and tropical forests in Yunnan, SW China. Forest Ecology and Management, 257(4):1344-1352 (2009). doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2008.12.004
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