Abstract:

Interspecies relationships between the dominant species of wetland vegetation on Lianbotan in Fen River, Shanxi by Fishers exact test, Pearsons correlation coefficient and Spearmans rank correlation based on the data collected from 42 field plots. Ecological species groups of those dominant species were studied by using group averaging clustering. The results indicated that: Sixteen species-pairs had positive association coefficient and one species-pair had negative association coefficient by Fisher's exact test. In addition, 20 species-pairs had positive correlation coefficient and 5 species-pairs had negative correlation coefficient by Pearsons correlation analysis. Furthermore, 34 species-pairs displayed positive and 7 were negative correlations by Spearman. Associations and correlations between most species-pairs were not significant, which suggested that the dominant species distributed in an isolated pattern and their inches separated. On the basis of the results of association and correlation of those dominant species as well as that of analysis of clustering, those dominant species were divided into 4 ecological species groups: Phragmites australis group, Leymus secalinus group, Imperata cylindrical group, and Artemisia lavandulaefolia group, which reflected the characteristic of the vegetation community in this region with the moisture gradient.

Key words: Lianbotan wetland, Fisher's exact test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, Spearman's rank correlation, group averaging, ecological species group