Studies On The Species Diversity Of Tree Layer In The Habitat Of Black Crested Gibbons (Nomascus Concolor), Mt. Wuliang, Central Yunnan, China

Black crested gibbon (Nomascus concolor) is one of the rare and endangered primates, which is only distributed in Yunnan China, Northern Vietnam and Northwestern laos. Investigation and analysis of the vegetation in the habitat can explain some behavior phenomena of black crested gibbon and provide basic data to protect black crested gibbon. Via the study of the diversity and distribution of tree layer in the habitat of black crested gibbon, Mt.Wuliang, central Yunnan, China, the paper expected to provide some basal data for the research of black crested gibbon. The detailed results are as follows:1 Via the investigation of 250 sample plots, 114 tree species were recorded in all. The dominant families with various species, as the "key resource", included Lauraceae, Magnoliaceae, Fagaceae, Theaceae and Ericaceae. Some liana, widely distributed in the study area, was possibly the major food resource of black crested gibbon.2 The study area could be assigned into Semi-humid Evergreen Broad-leaved Forest (2100~2300m) and Mid-Mountain Humid Evergreen Broad-leaved Forest (2400~2600m). With the arising of the elevation, diversity index (Shannon-Wiener index) presented declining trend in both vegetation types; Evenness index (Pielou index) declined in Semi-humid Evergreen Broad-leaved Forest, however, showed no significant change trend in Mid-Mountain Humid Evergreen Broad-leaved Forest. In the same way, the mean height of tree and proportion of tree upper-layer both showed declining trend, but tree lower-layer showed ascending trend.3 Pattern and competition of two dominant populations indicated that Alnus nepalensis showed regular distribution trend with the increasing of its DBH...