Study On Quantitative Ecology Of Plant Communities In Yundingshan Nature Reserve

This thesis was studied on the plant communities in Yundingshan Nature Reserve, Shanxi. The species diversity, classification, ordination of plant communities and plant functional groups were studied by the methodology of numerical ecology. The object of this study was to analyze the communities’structure and function, to interpret the interrelations between communities and environment and to provide some theoretical basis for conservation and sustainable utilization of plant communities in Yundingshan Nature Reserve, Shanxi.Based on the datasets from the field, the58quadrats in the plant communities of Yundingshan Nature Reserve, Shanxi were classified into13Associations by TWINSPAN, including:I. Ass. Larix principis-rupprechtii+Betula platyphyllaonicera maakii-Carex lanceloata; Ⅱ. Ass. Picea meyeri+Larix principis-rupprechtii-Spiraea pubescens+Lonicera chrysantha-Carex lanceloata+Dendranthema chanetii; Ⅲ. Ass. Betula platyphylla-Spiraea pubescens-Iris ruthenica, Ass. Betula platyphylla-Rosa bella+Lonicera chrysantha-Dendranthema chanetii, Ass. Pinus tabulaeformis+Quercus liaotungensis-Lonicera chrysantha+Rosa xanthina-Carex lanceloata+Dendranthema chanetii, et al. The ordination results of the communities from DCA were as following:The first axis of the DCA ordination indicated the tendency of slope change was from the sunless side to the sunlit side; the second axis reflected the change of altitude. Moreover, the results of the68dominant species and58quadrats ordination showed some similarities.Based on the result of TWINSPAN classification, the species diversity of plant communities of Yundingshan Nature Reserve were studied by Patric index, Simpson index, Shannon-Wiener index, Pielou index and Alatalo index, the result demonstrated that the Patric index, Shannon-Wiener index, Pielou index and Alatalo index showed the same change trend, however, Simpson index showed the opposite change trend, and those resulted from their characterized ecological meaning. The species richness indices, species diversity indices and evenness indices of each association achieved the accordant result as well described the feature of association. The results of ANOVA for those indices showed that the differences between the Shannon-Wiener index and the Alatalo index were significant, because of the wide distribution of plant communities, and the difference of community type, the habitat of distribution, the species distribution in Yundingshan Nature Reserve.The interspecific relationships of dominant species in the forest communities, shrub communities and herb communities in Yundingshan Nature Reserve were analyzed by using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and Fisher’s exact test. Combined with the result of cluster analysis, the forest communities, shrub communities and herb communities of Yundingshan Nature Reserve were studied. Finally, the dominants of forest communities were classified into2plant functional groups(PFGs), the dominants of shrub communities were classified into4PFGs, the dominants of herb communities were classified into6PFGs. The distribution of each PFGs was characteristically and these PFGs could reflect vegetation-environment relationships well, and the coexistence among the forest communities, shrub communities and herb communities of Yundingshan Nature Reserve made the resource utilization of ecosystem achieved the maximization, the ecosystem would be stable stage in the future.