Studies On Flora And Ecology Of Mosses In National Reserve Of Dapan Shan, Zhejiang Province, China

The bryophyte is a very important group, whose species number is only next to that of angiosperm; Bryophytes have been recorded from Antarctica to arctic, covering all over the world. They are of high importance in plant flora and biodiversity, the investigation of bryophyte flora and their relationship with environment would facilitate to floral division scientifically and their utilization. Dapanshan, which located in the middle of Zhejiang province, was ranked as a national nature reserve in 2005.The investiaged area, are typical characteristized by subtropical climate. A preliminary investigation showed that Dapanshan is in habitat types and bryophyte species. And the local government try to take a protocol to develop bryophyte scenery.In the present paper, the investigations on flora and ecology of mosses in Dapanshan, Zhejaing province including their composition of families, genera, their diversity, their niche and the relationship between their distribution and environmental factors were conducted. The main results are as follows:(1) Based on the specimens collected from Dapanshan, 29 families, 89 genera and 202 moss species (including subspecies and variaties)were identified, among them 32 species and one genus are new to Zhejiang province.(2) East-Asian element and north temperate element account for 40.12%, 29.34% of the total species, respectively. These three geographical elements are the main elements of the mosses flora of Dapanshan national nature reserve. Analyses show that o toyal of 116 species blonging to 47 genera were recorded from eight major families, which account for 27.59% of total families, 52.81% of total genera and 57.43% of the total species, respectively. Among 29 moss families, Brachytheciaceae, Hypnaceae, Pottiaceae, Thuidiaceae and Sematophyllaceae are the five major families, including 23, 18, 15, 14 and 13 species, respectively. Brachythecimen, Bryum, Entodon, Grimmia, Hypnum and Fissidens are the six major genera, including 13, 8, 7, 6, 6 and 6 species, respectively. The family similarity in species number of Dapanshan with those of other 22 mountains in China was also compared by using the method of Detrended Correspondence Analysis, which showed Dapanshan is more similar to Jinhuashan, Tianmushan and Gutianshan in Zhejiang in family composition. The above quantitative analyses reveal that the present investigation is comparatively sympatic.(3) The saxicolous mosses on a representative environment were sampled by four different sampling scales including 10cm×10cm, 20cm×20cm, 30cm×30cm and 40cm×40cm in Dapanshan. Based on the collected date the niche breadthes and niche overlaps of the saxicolous mosses were caculated, Based on their niche overlaps, two-dimensional ordination plot of the saxicolous mosses species was constructed by using principal axes analysis(PAA), thus intuitionistically recealing their ecological similarity. According to the results, we suggested that the niche survey of the saxicolous mosses should be conducted in a scale of 20-30cm×20-30cm.(4) 33 sites and 152 quadrates were sampled to investigate the ecological important values of the saxicolous mosses in Dapanshan. From these sites, a total of 77 species were recorded. Pottiaceae, Hypnaceae, Brachytheciaceae, Thuidiaceae and Hypnaceae are the four major families, including 11, 11, 10 and 8 species, respectively. Bryum, Fissidens, and Brachythecium are the there major genera, including 7, 7, and 6-species, respectively. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) based on the ecological important values of these 77 species and six environmental variables revealed that the distribution of these saxicolous moss species is significantly related to altitude, water availability and light intensity. Altitude is a primary detenninant factor of vascular plant cover, which in turn affects light intensity, water availability, and therefore bryophyte distribution. The microtopography of boulders also partly accounts for the distribution of saxicolous mosses in this area, while no distinct relationships were found between the inclination angle of the boulders and the distribution of the mosses.