Studies On Diatoms Of Karst Landform Of Muni Vally In Sichuan Province

Karst travertine landscape is an important and special landform. It is widelydistribute in the southwest mountainous area in China, which have various types ofhabitat, including waterfall, marsh, lakes, spring and so on. And there possessabundant water resources and diverse algae sources. MuniValley is an important partof Huanglong national scenic area which is one of the world natural heritagestate-level scenic spot and belongs to the typical karst travertine landscape.MuniValley is located in Songpan County of Aba Tibetan and qiang autonomousprefecture in Sichuan province. MuniValley covers an area of160square kilometers,with the highest elevation of4250meters and the lowest elevation of2800meters,and with an annual mean temperature7℃. MuniValley is divided into two mainparts, the Zhaga waterfall and the Erdaohai scenic area. The main travertine types inthere include: travertine waterfalls, hot springs, calcified pools and swamp.We collected149algae specimens in MuniValley region in August2011, Mayand October2012in MuniValley region, respectively. We made use of lightmicroscope to observe and identify the diatoms in these specimens.192taxa wereobserved and photographed, including3classes11orders19families and56genera.In these taxa,12species are newly recorded in China and1genera are newlyrecorded.In this paper, the composition of diatom species and characteristics ofecological distribution of diatom species have been preliminary analysis anddiscussed.1. Habitat types of MuniValley scenic area could be roughly divided intofour types: travertine waterfall, calcified pools, spring, swamp. The physical andchemical properties and the composition of diatom in these landscape were different.2. The composition of diatom are also varied with season. But no significantdifference was observed. The composition of diatom was abundant in summer.3. Wealso found the composition of diatom in MuniValley region are relatively abundant.