Population structure of relict Metasequoiaglyptostroboides and its habitat fragmentation and degradation in south-central China

The relict dawn redwood Metasequoia glyptostroboides Hu et Cheng is endemic to the region bordering Hubei and Hunan provinces and Chongqing municipality in south-central China. It is critically endangered. We investigated its population size and age structure, and provided a comparison to the study of Chu and Cooper (1950), documenting the changes of the past 60 years. Our study included all the known wild individuals of the species as well as analyses of the floristic diversity of their habitats. In the last 41 years, habitat changes have effectively ended recruitment of M. glyptostroboides and have reduced species richness in direct response to human disturbance, as shown on several indices. The remaining specimens ranged from roughly 41 to some 265 years for an average near 95 years, with heights of 12–51 m averaging 27 m. The detrimental activities of human residents include cultivation of profitable plants in the understory, selective cutting, harvesting of wood for fuel, and thoroughgoing collection of seeds for sale on the active market. Under present environmental conditions and land use, the dawn redwood will not maintain its natural range in south-central China. Our work detailing the plant populations in the habitats of this living fossil will be useful in establishing priorities for its recovery and conservation.