FRACTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HEIGHT STRUCTURE OF BRUGUIERA GYMNORRHIZA POPULATION
红树植物木榄种群高度结构的分形特征

The characteristics of the height structure of Bruguiera gymnorrhiza population in National Shankou Mangrove Nature Reserve were studied by measuring the fractal dimension of height contour. The results showed that the height structure of B. gymnorrhiza population possesses fractal characteristics; the box dimension ranges from 1.61 to 1.90, and the information dimension from 1.63 to 1.84. The fractal dimension is closely related to the number of sapling individuals, the aggregated intensity of all individuals, the complex degree of height architecture etc. The box dimension quantifies the spatial occupation ability and degree of the population, while the information dimension reflects the scale variation degree of the height architecture and discloses the unevenness of individual height distribution. The analysis suggests that the contour method may be suitable, for describing the fractal characteristics of the height structure of B. gymnorrhiza population, and the box dimension and information dimension should be the effective indexes.