Preliminary Study On Moss Of Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve, Hubei Province

Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve located in Lichuan city, Enshi city and Xianfeng county is divided into east (Xingdoushan part, 29°57' ～30°10' E, 108°57 ' ～109°27' N) and west part (Xiaohe part, 30°04' ～30°14' E, 108°31'～108°48 ' ) . The reserve is located in the transitional climatic belt betweenmiddle subtropical zone and north subtropical zone, with distinct four seasons, cold winter and hot summer.In July 2004 and April 2005 separately, the author collected more than 600 packages of mosses in Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve. From these specimens, 26 families, 68 genera and 191 species (including 7 varieties) are identified. If the family that contains more than 9 species distributed in the Reserve is defined as the preponderant family, then there are 9 preponderant families including 41 genera and 140 species in the Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve. Most of the preponderant families, such as Brachytheciaceae, Dicranaceae, Pottiaceae, Mniaceae, Thuidiaceae, Fissidentaceae, are ones widely distributing in temperate regions. There are also the families distributing all over the world such as Hypnaceae and Bryaceae.A preliminary floristic analysis shows that bryoflora of the Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve is composed of 9 elements: Cosmopolitan, Pantropical element, Paleotropical element, India-Malaysia element, North Temperate element, East Asian-North American element, Euro-Asian element, East Asia element and Element endemic to China. The great majority of the moss species, 69 species corresponding to 40.35% of the total, belongs to East Asia element. Following the East element, the Temperate elements (including North Temperate element, East Asian-North American element, Euro-Asian element) consist of 55 species corresponding to 32.16% of the total. The tropical elements (including Pantropical element, Paleotropical element and India-Malaysia element) consist of 39 species sharing 22.81% of the total. The results show that the Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve is transitional climatic belt where the tropical and subtropical elements extend northwards and the North Temperate elements infiltrate southwards, which accords with its geographical location.The comparisons of the bryoflora of the Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve and...