Abstract:

The plant community types and spatial differentiation of plant species diversity along the altitudinal gradient in the Habaxueshan Mountain, Northwest Yunnan was analyzed using quantitative methods based on the 72 quadrat data. The result showed that: The plant communities of Habaxueshan Mountain could be grouped into 6 vegetation types with the hierarchical cluster analysis and the non-metric multidimensional scaling. The plant species diversity in Habaxueshan Mountain was influenced more by "the mid-domain Effect" than "Rapoport's elevation rule". The altitudinal pattern of species richness generally presented the single hump pattern and fluctuated in mid-elevation zone; both Shannon-Wiener and Cody indexes presented the single hump pattern on the whole, and showed wavy fluctuation in mid-elevation zone. Generally,the altitudinal pattern of plant diversity in Habaxueshan Mountain presented a complicate feature which indicated the diversity of micro-habitat, and the complication also manifested by the alternative distribution and substitution effect of plant communities.

Key words: altitudinal gradient, hierarchical cluster analysis, non-metric multidimensional scaling, species richness, species diversity index, Habaxueshan Mountain