Application of species, phylogenetic and functional diversity to the evaluation on the effects of ecological restoration on biodiversity

In order to explore the effects of human activity and ecological restoration on biodiversity, four transects were performed to investigate the species communities of a meadow pre- and post-restoration in the Lishan mountains, north China. The species, phylogenetic and functional diversity were selected as quantitative indices to evaluate the different aspects of biodiversity. Species and functional diversity generally showed a highly significant increase (P < 0.01) following restoration, especially in the middle and low altitude areas on transects 1 and 2 which were most seriously affected by human activity, while phylogenetic diversity did not change significantly overall (P > 0.05). Pre-restoration of the differences in species, phylogenetic and functional diversity were highly significant among the different transects as a result of human activity (P < 0.01). However, these differences reduced, some to the point of non-significance following restoration (P > 0.05). The relationships between species, phylogenetic and functional diversity changed due to human activity and community composition pre-restoration and post-restoration. Our results showed that species, phylogenetic and functional diversity were all effective indices in evaluating on biodiversity from species abundance, phylogenetic relationship and functional traits. Timely and necessary ecological restoration measures were effective in countering the effects of human activity on biodiversity.