Relationship between Diversity and Productivity at Ratargul Fresh Water Swamp Forest in Bangladesh

Abstract

One of the most concerned topics in ecology is the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. However, there are few field studies, carried out in forests, although many studies have been done in controlled experiments in grasslands. In this paper, we describe the relationship pattern between three facets of diversity and productivity at Ratargul Fresh Water Swamp Forest (RFWSF) in Bangladesh, which is the only remaining fresh water swamp forest of the country. Sixty sample plots were selected from RFWSF and included six functional traits including leaf area (LA), specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), tree height, bark thickness and wood density. In analyzing TD, we used Shannon diversity and richness indices, functional diversity was measured by Rao’s quadratic entropy (Rao 1982) and Faith’s (1992) index was used for phylogenetic diversity (PD). It was found that, TD, FD and PD were positively related with productivity (basal area) due to resource use complementarity but surprisingly the best predictor of tree productivity was FD. The results contribute to the understanding the effects of biodiversity loss and it is essential for conservation decision-making and policy-making of Ratargul Fresh Water Swamp Forest.