Abstract:

A study on vine diversity in Huping Mountain area using selected sample plots and sample trees demonstrated that: 1) There were 330 vine species, belonging to 111 genera and 44 families, and the vine diversity was comparably concentrated in some large vine families and large vine genera; 2) The values of Simpson index, Shannon-Wiener index and Pielou evenness index of all seed vine diversity were 0.982 3, 1.906 0 and 0.901 6, respectively. Vines exhibited highest species number, diversity, and the value of evenness index of vines between 500～1 200 m altitude; 3) The evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved forest showed the highest vine diversity, followed by evergreen broad-leaved forest, while deciduous broad-leaved forest had the lowest; 4) The vine diversity was higher and the vine compositive stability and evenness were lower in the early stage of community succession than that in the adult stage. Moderate human interference caused the vine diversity to increase and its composite stability to decrease; 5) Vine climbing mechanics were divided into twining (48.5%), curling (22.7%), hooking (13.3%), adhering (9.1%) and mixed (6.4%) types; 6) The major dispersal modes of vine were ornithochory (35.2%), mammaliochory (32.1%), anemochory (19.7%) and autochory (13.0%). Based on the results of this study it can be concluded that the high diversity of vines in this area can be attributed to a number of key reasons: the complicated terrain, some ancient geographical factor, and the well-conserved conditions.

Key words: vine, diversity, climbing mechanics, dispersal modes, Huping Mountain