Distribution patterns and changes of aquatic plant communities in Napahai Wetland in northwestern Yunnan Plateau, China |
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Authors: | Derong Xiao Kun Tian Hua Yuan Yuming Yang Ningyun Li and Shouguo Xu |
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Institution: | (1) State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China;(2) Department of Environment Science and Engineering, Southwest Forestry College, Kunming, 650224, China;(3) State Forestry Administration Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Conservation in Southwest China, Kunming, 650224, China |
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Abstract: | Using GPS technology and community research methods for plant communities, we investigated the distribution patterns of aquatic
plant communities in the high plateaus of the Napahai Wetlands, Yunnan, China, as well as the species changes of plant communities
compared with that of 24 years ago since 2005. We found that the types and numbers of aquatic plant communities have changed.
Some pollution-tolerant, nutrient-loving plant communities such as Scirpus tabernaemontani, Zizania caduciflora, Myriophyllum spicatum, and Azolla imbricata flourished, while the primary aquatic plant communities were reduced or even disappeared. The number of aquatic plant communities
were increased from nine to 12 with the addition of two new emergent plant communities and one new floating-leaved plant community.
The increase in emergent plant communities was significant. From east to west and from south to north, various types of plant
communities were continuously distributed, including floating-leaved plant communities, emergent plant communities and submerged
plant communities. The composition of the communities became more complicated and the number of accompanying species increased,
while the percentage ratio of dominant plant species declined. In 2005, the coverage of emergent plant communities was the
largest (528.42 hm2) followed by submerged plant communities (362.50 hm2) and the floating-leaf plant communities was the smallest (70.23 hm2). The variations in the distribution of aquatic plant communities in the Napahai Wetlands reflect the natural responses to
the change of the wetland ecological environment. This study indicates that human disturbances have led to an inward movement
of the wetland shoreline, a decrease in water quality and a reduction in wetland habitat.
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Translated from Acta Ecologica Sinica, 2006, 26(11): 3624–3630 译自: 生态学报] |
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Keywords: | plateau wetland plant community distribution pattern change trends Napahai |
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