Forest Health Assessment of Pinus massoniana Natural Secondary Forest in Lizhong Basin in Southwestern Hubei

The Pinus massoniana natural secondary forest in Lizhong basin of Southwest Hubei was as taken as the research object, and taking community stability, community sustainability and community structure function completeness as the evaluation criteria, the analytic hierarchy process, comprehensive analysis of mean squared decision and evaluation index score methods were used to evaluate the health status of P. massoniana natural secondary forest in Lizhong basin on the basis of constructing the forest health evaluation index system. The results showed that the overall evaluation results of the 3 evaluation methods were healthy. Among the 34 survey plots of P. massoniana natural secondary forest, 23 plots were accounted for 69.85% presented as the healthy grade, 16.18% were 'good health' plots, and 13.97% of the total plots were sub-healthy plots, no unhealthy forest stands. According to actual situation of the forest stand in the region, and considering the objectivity of the evaluation method, the comprehensive analysis of mean squared decision was the optimal evaluation method. Pearson correlation analysis showed that humus thickness, anthropogenic interference index, herb coverage, mortality rate, seedling rate of dominant species, tree height growth rate, site index, species richness and species diversity index were the main factors affecting the forest health of P. massoniana natural secondary forest in the Lizhong basin, Southwest Hubei.