Distribution, Composition and Diversity of Restoration Vegetation on Tudiling Giant Panda Corridor in the Upper Reaches of Minjiang River, SW China

Abstract

Tudiling Giant Panda Corridor, is the typical region of the Giant Panda Corridor habitat and the vegetation degradation in the upper Minjiang River basin, in which the effects of the existing disturbance regimes on plant communities after the vegetation restoration in the 1980s were assessed, and the distribution, composition and species diversity of restoration vegetation were analyzed using the transect sampling method, TWINSPAN and DCA. The results were as follows: At present, a total of 234 plant species representing 145 genera and 58 families were recorded at all plots. By means of TWINSPAN, DCA and disturbance identification, restoration vegetation could be divided into 6 major types (2 natural communities and 4 artificial communities accounting for different anthropogenic disturbances, respectively). DCA figure represented a disturbance gradient that increased from the bottom to the top along the second DCA axis. Species richness and Shannon-Wiener index in artificial communities markedly decreased as the intensity of disturbance increased. Heavy disturbance resulted in low diversity and inhibited regeneration because of the failure of tree establishment, growth, and survival during regeneration. Species diversity was higher in artificial undisturbed community than in natural undisturbed community. Therefore, high diverse mixed species in restoration and avoiding strong disturbance in this region can accelerate succession and maintain high species richness and diversity.