Study On Lichen Flora And Species Distribution On The Southern Slope Of Bogda Peak

Lichens are dominant in the vegetation on the southern slope of Bogda peak.As a pioneer of nature,they play an important role in the ecosystem of this region.In order to understand the lichen diversity,floristic composition and community characteristics,20 plots were set up at different altitudes.Field investigations were completed and the results were follows :1.Based on classical taxonomy,chemical,and molecular biological methods,95 species of the lichens identified belonged to 12 orders,24 families and 41 genera There was one species newly recorded for China Anaptychia roemeri Poelt and one new record for in Xinjiang Lobothallia crassimarginata X.R.Kou & Q.Ren.The families and genera that dominated the lichen flora in the study area showed that the ecosystem on the southern slope of Bogda peak was rather simple and vulnerable to threats that include climate change.2.The lichen flora of the southern slope of Bogda peak is divided into 6components and 8 types.These include a world wide component,temperate component,Mediterranean West Asia Central Asia component,circumarctic mountain component,East Asia component and endemic species of China.The lichen flora of southern slope of Bogda peak has higher similarity with the northern slope of Bogda peak and the southern mountain of Urumqi.The species similarity was the highest with the Barkol mountain,the second was the northern slope of Bogda peak.3.The distribution characteristics of lichens on the southern slope of Bogda peak was examined in detail.This area is mainly composed of saxicolous and terricolous lichens.Saxicolous lichens are the main community type,accounting for 71.58 % of the total,while terricolous lichens accounted for 28.42 %.Crustose lichens were dominant in the study area,followed by foliose lichens and squamulose lichens.With respect to the vertical distribution,lichens species are most abundant in the mountain steppe zone,with 62 species being found,accounting for 65.26 % of the total found on the southern slope;34 species occurred in the subalpine meadow zone,accounting for 35.79 % while 42 species in the alpine meadow zone,that made up 44.21 % of the total.4.Considering lichen cover as an indicator,the communities were classified using a two-way indicator species analysis and divide trend Correspondence analysis.These analyses revealed that there are four kinds of lichen communities.Xanthoparmelia chlorochroa(Tuck.)Hale + Xanthoparmelia weberi(Hale)Hale had the highest Shannon Wiener and Simpson indexes of 3.3920 and 0.9578 respectively.There were five terricolous lichen communities the diversity of the of Placidium squamulosum(Ach.)Breuss + Toninia tristis(Th.Fr.)Th.Fr.communities were the highest,with values of 2.2550 and 0.8772 respectively.In conclusion rich and unusual lichen communities found on the southern slope of Bogda peak are mainly controlled by altitude,substrate,canopy density,light,and humidity.