Effect Of Standing Litter On Plant Species Diversity In Hongsongwa Natural Reserve

The effect of standing litter to seeding establishment of meadow has not been reported (seen). The objective of this study was to provide some support for protecting biological diversity of meadow, ecological system and managing meadow resources. In indoor survey, statistical analysis and quantitative methods were utilized to evaluate the influences of standing litter on species diversity. Some results are as follows:1. According to the study on Hongsongwa, there were 76 families, 272 genera, and 512 species wild plants in Hongsongwa. Of all these plants, 248 species are major forage plants which belong to 149 genera in 57 families, including 211 species medicinal plants which belong to 149 genera in 57 families. In addition, comprehensive exploitation on the wild medicinal plant resources in the area was suggested.2. Analysis on standing litter accumulation and water-holding capacity of the standing litter in the core area, the buffer area, and the experimental area of Hongsongwa Natural Reserve showed that annual accumulation of standing litter in the Hongsongwa Natural Reserve ranged from 1.5 t·hm~-2a~-1 to 4.5 t·hm~-2a~-1 and the maximum water holding capacity of the litter ranged from 5.00 to 16.82. It was equivalent to 0.50~ 1.68mm of rainfall. The dynamics of water content ratio of standing litter were 360.98%, 290.62%, and 350.35% in the core area, the buffer area, and the experimental area of Hongsongwa Natural Reserve, respectively. The results showed that the hydrological effect of standing litter differed on managements.3. In this study, the simulation method was adopted to establish different treatments of litter layer (the heights of litter were 0cm, 5cm, 10cm, and 15cm). The result indicated that the diversity and evenness are the highest for the treatment of 5 cm litter, followed by 10cm, 0cm, and 15cm treatments. The number of dicotyledonous seedlings increased till a peak value and decreased with the increase of standing litter. However, the relationship between the number of Cyperaceae seedlings and the height of standing litter can be well described by a linear increase model.4. Based on the five-year orientation experiment, we analyzed the effect of standing litter on floral diversity and lawn heterogeneity on meadow, and explored the effect of standing Utter on ecological environment. Standing litter exerted a great influence on Shannon—Wiever index, Pielou's index, and Margalef s index after ten year continuous envelop. The changes of floral Shannon—Wiever index and Pielou's index were consistent. The curve starts to decline after the peak in 1999, but the Simpson index increases from the beginning to the end. The results indicate that the effect of standing litter on species diversity has positive and negative domino effect. Proper amount of standing litter is beneficial to sustaining community diversity. However, excessive standing litter may cause the descent of community diversity. So, we concluded that standing litter is the main factor which results in the descent of floral Shannon—Wiever index and Pielou's index and the ascend of Simpson index. Theadministration model of envelop is restricted at an early stage for the degenerative meadow. The appropriate disturbance and mowing are necessary after restoration of vegetation to reduce the accumulation of standing litter.