Flora Of Mt.Baohua National Forest Park And Its Biodiversity Connectivity

Based on the analysis of flora and biodiversity Baohuashan National Forest Park(hereinafter called "BNFK"), Zhenjiang, this article discussed the species turnover, characteristics and laws of the flora in the Ningzhen Mountains from east to west combine with the existing floristic results of Mt. Laoshan National Forest Park and Mt. Niushou Forest Park. The results can help to enrich the research of flora of subtropical region, and it also can help to provide evidence for optimizing the network of nature reserves in Jiangsu Province. The main results are as follows:(1) The floristic tracheophytes of Mt. Baohua National Forest ParkThere were 737 species of tracheophytes in 441 genera and 122 families in Mt. Baohua National Forest Park, including 23 species of pteridophytes in 20 genera of 17 families and 714 species of spermatophytes in 421 genera of 105 families. The families and genera with less species respectively accounted for 53.28% and 33.26% of the total families and genera of this flora. The dominant families were as follows:Gramineae, Compositae, Leguminosae, Rosaceae, Liliaceae, Labiatae, Umbelliferae, Caryophyllaceae, Ranunculaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Cruciferae, Scrophulariaceae and Fagaceae. According to the composition of the this flora, its main body was composed of families with less species and single species, respectively accounted for 53.28% and 29.51% of the total 101 families. The less species genera (with 2 to 10 species) and moderate genera (with 11 to 20 species), nearly taking one half of total families of the tracheophytes, exceed half of the whole species of the flora. Therefore, these minor genera constituted the main body of this flora. With abundant ancient families and genera, this area was one of the most important centers distributing rare and endangered plants in Jiangsu province.(2) Floristic characteristicsThe tropical elements were obvious at the family and genus levels in pteridophytes flora of BNFK. While at the species level, the temperate component was dominat. The geographical components of flora of BNFK was complicated. The tropical nature was obvious at the family level, while at the level of genus and species, the temperate components were the dominant. In addition, from family to genus and then species, the proportion of tropical geographical elements significantly reduced, while the proportion of temperate geographical elements increased obviously.(3) Plant diversityWe compared the differences of plant diversity of spermatophyte flora between Mt. Baohua Nationa Forest Park and its adjacent areas with species amount and the index of species abundance and floristic species differentiation, the results showed as follows: compared to the other 8 areas, the species amount, species abundance and floristic species differentiation of Mt. Baohua all at the medium level, the ranking was the fifth, forth and fifth, respectively. The value of floristic diversity in Mt. Baohua ranked for the forth. When compared with the four floras within Jiangsu Province only, Mt. Baohua flora had the maximum value of floristic diversity. As a result, it seemeded that Mt. Baohua might be the key area of biodiversity in Jiangsu, and the plant biodiversity protection in this area should be strenghened in order to keep all these plant species well in the coming future. Additionally, it makes sense to consider changing this area from the provincial level into ntioan level.(4)The connectivity of seed plants in the Ningzhen MountainsFrom east to west in the Ningzhen Mountains, the similarity of seed plants within these three reserves was decrease by degrees from family to genus and then species. The statistic results of Czekanowski index and Jaccard index showed that: The connectivity of seed plants in the Ningzhen Mountains was strong, Ecological corridor should be considered to keep the further connection. The similarity of species of seed plants within these three reserves was short of 45.00%. TheβL index of the eastern - central part of the Ningzhen Mountains was up to 40.00%, as well as the central to western part. The above two facts indicated that the Ningzhen Mountains is one of the contemporary distributing centers of seed plants. Cody indexβC revealed that Mt. Niushou Forest Park was an important node in the Ningzhen Mountains. Improve the grade of Mt. Niushou Forest Park and increase protective potency will benefit to the formation of ecological corridor. In order to present the characteristics and differences species endemic in Jiangsu, species endemic in China, rare and endangered plants under 4 different standards and common species were statistically weighted respectively to measure the biodiversity quality of these three reserves. The QL index showed that BNFK carried the best quality of seed plants biodiversity and could not be replaced by the other two reserves.