Altitudinal patterns of the flora of seed plants of Dawei Mountain in Yunnan Province, south China

Abstract

Altitudinal gradient incorporates multiple resource gradients, which vary continuously in different fashions. It is important to study the mountain floristic patterns along altitudinal gradients, which reveal the regular pattern of the flora along the environmental gradients, the changing trend of biodiversity patterns along the altitudinal gradient, and relevance of biological fitness. To explore the compositional characteristics and ecological significance of floristic patterns along altitudinal gradient in China National Nature Reserve of Dawei Mountain in the southeast of Yunnan Province, field investigations have been made to the flora along the two routes of the southwest slope and the northeast slope of the said reserve, including a vertical vegetation transect. Meanwhile, further investigations have also been made to the flora of Dawei Mountain, which has been accounted for in the literature, as Flora Yunnan, The Seed Plant in Yunnan, and so on. The structural characteristics of the flora and the altitudinal distribution pattern of its floristic components were analyzed. By applying systematic cluster analysis, the altitudinal position of the dividing line of floristic changes along altitudinal gradient was detected, and the effects of the montane climate on the vertical variation of floristic composition were studied. Conclusions were put forward. This paper can be summarized as follows: (1) The obvious boundary that differentiates tropical floristic elements is located at the altitude of approximately 1,500 m; it is reasonable to stipulate the boundary line between tropical rain forests and the evergreen broad-leaved forests. (2) The vertical vegetation spectrum made by cluster analysis shows that humid rain forests are below 700 m a.s.l, montane rain forests are between 700 and 1,500 m, monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forests are between 1,300 and 1,800 m, and montane mossy evergreen broad-leaved forests are above 1,800 m a.s.l. Nonrepresentative montane mossy dwarf forests (above 2,100 m) in the area are distributed in windward sides and in barren land on the mountain slopes.