Interspecific Association Of Dominant Species And Influence Of Environment Factors In Acanthopanax Senticosus Communities In Beijing

Acanthopanax senticosus, which belongs to Araliaceae, rarely distributed in Beijing area as the third class protected plant listed in "China Plant Red Data Book" and the second class protected plant listed in "Key protected wild plants in Beijing".In order to develop appropriate protection measures by clarifying the species composition and interspecific relationships of the Acanthopanax senticosus communities in Beijing, we carried out a series of the typical sampling investigations at different scales. We calculated and summarized the number, height, coverage and other survey data of the trees, shrubs and herbaceous rounding the Acanthopanax senticosus communities. Based on the 2×2 contingency table, a series of approaches including variance ratio (VR), χ2-test, Pearson’s correlation and Spearman’s rank correlation were adopted to analyze the interspecific association among the dominant species in A.senticosus communities. Meanwhile, by analyzing the data of environmental conditions, we examined that the relationship between A.senticosus and environmental factors.The results showed that:the dominant species were significantly positive correlated which indicated a relatively stable succession status of the communities. The A.senticosus community structure in large scale is not stable, A.senticosus showed a poor survival status, and had a disadvantage in the community. While in the small scale, the results showed a more obvious positive correlation, indicating the community’s development was fitness for A.senticosus growth. We divide ecological species groups according to the result combined with PCA analysis and the real growth in the wild, then put forward a species mix mode in favor of the growth of A.senticosus, such as controlling the number of competition species, like Lonicera chrysantha, Abelia biflora and Hydrangea bretschneideri; and appropriately retain or seeding some complementary plant species with A.senticosus, like Cardamine leucantha and Pseudostellaria davidii. According to the result of CCA analysis between A.senticosus and environmental factors, we found elevation and slope had very important influences on A.senticosus growth, and suggested during the field planting of A.senticosus, the high altitude, middle slope or uphill position with moist fertile soil, and north slope aspect with a gradient slope should be noted as the mountain environment.