The Biodiversity Of Bryophytes In Wula Mountain National Forest Park

Located in the west part of the Yin Mountains in the west-central area of Inner Mongolia,Wula Mountain National Forest Park contains a variety of flora and fauna as well as wild herbs and wild animals that have a high research value.However,due to the two fires in the region in the past hundred years,the vegetation in the primeval forest has been severely destroyed and the ecological environment has become fragile and sensitive.Therefore,research into bryophytes in Wula Mountain can not only achieve what most studies in this field fail to provide but also offer a reasonable basis for the ecological construction and the protection of biodiversity in the region.The following conclusions are drawn from the investigation into the diversity of bryophytes in Wula Mountain National Forest Park,floristic analysis and the study of bryophyte communities:(1)Bryophytes in Wula Mountain consist of 26 families,61 genera,and130 species(including varieties and subspecies).Among them,liverworts are composed of 5 families,5 genera,and 5 species while mosses are composed of 21 families,56 genera,and 125 species.The total families,genera and species of bryophytes in Wula Mountain respectively account for 41.30%,33.15% and 25.44% of that in whole Inner Mongolia.There are obviously dominant families and genera of bryophytes.Dominant families include the Pottiaceae,the Brachytheciaceae,the Grimmiaceae,the Hypnaceae,and the Mniaceae family.Particularly,as a family of absolute dominance in the region,the xeric Pottiaceae family can clearly reveal the xeric nature of the climate and the environment in Wula Mountain.The appearance of hygrophilous mosses like the Brachytheciaceae,the Mniaceae,and the Hypnaceae indirectly indicates that some habitats in the region are humid and that theenvironment is varied and complex,endowing the region with a great research value.(2)Research into bryophytes at different altitudes in Wula Mountain indicated that with the increase of the altitude,families,genera and species of bryophytes increase,which is consistent with the trend of changes indicated by the Shannon-Wiener index,Shannon-Wiener index change trend in the same range.As bryophytes at different altitudes vary in species and dominance,Pielou's evenness index showed little change in JH values.To be specific,values of Pielou's evenness JH of bryophytes at different altitudes are relatively uniform and close in numbers.The Cody index and the Wilson-Shmida index are the highest at altitudes of 1000 meters to 1100 meters above sea level and 2000 meters to 2300 meters above sea level,indicating that the species is the fastest-changing and the community changes most clearly.(3)Bryophytes in Wula Mountain have eight kinds of floristic and geographical compositions,among which the northern temperate elements are dominating,followed by the cosmopolitan elements,the East Asian elements in third.Temperate elements(old world temperate elements,Temperate Asian elements,North temperate elements,East Asia-North America elements)account for 62.31% of Bryophytes,indicating that bryophytes in Wula Mountain are mainly temperate ones with a small number of East Asian ones.Tropical Asian and African elements account for0.77% of the total,which is in sharp contrast with the temperate elements.This is also consistent with the temperate climate in Wula Mountain.Based on the comparison between dominant families,cluster analysis,similarity coefficients of species and the analysis of floristic and geographical compositions,Wula Mountain was compared with other seven mountains and it turned out that Wula Mountain has the closest relationship with Daqing Mountain,second close relationship with Helan Mountain,then with Qilaotu Mountain and Guancen Mountain.Moreover,Wula Mountain was found distantly related with Tianshan Mountain and Changbai Mountain and themost distantly related with Tianmu Mountain in Zhejiang Province.Such conclusion proves the transitional characteristics of bryophyte flora in Wula Mountain.(4)Through the CCA sorting of bryophyte community distribution and environmental factors,it is known that the distribution of bryophytes mainly includes six environmental factors such as arbor cover,soil moisture,herb coverage,shrub coverage,light intensity,and air humidity.The distribution of plant communities and plots can clearly reflect the environmental differences in the vegetation types of different habitats.(5)Investigation into the six kinds of habitats of bryophytes in Wula Mountain showed that the frequencies of bryophytes in different habitats decrease orderly from the epixylous habitat,to the hydrophytic habitat and the dominant species vary in different habitats.The diversity analysis of the six kinds of habitats showed that values of the Shannon-Wiener index increased orderly from the hydrophytic habitat,the epixylous habitat,the wet terricolous habitat,the dry terricolous habitat,the wet lithophytic habitat to the dry lithophytic habitat;the Pielous evenness ranged from 0.65 to 0.90,with little difference and small fluctuation,which proves the insignificant difference in individual evenness.