Abstract:

The vegetation of the dry-hot valleys in southwestern China, especially in Yunnan, is unique as the valley bottom in a subtropical plateau and mountainous region, which is characterized by its geographic location, climate, and geomorphology. A long history of biological adaptation to the specific environmental contributes to the rarity and non-zonality rarity rarity of vegetation in these dry-hot valleys. Disturbances including land use through human activities have endangered some vegetation types in the dry-hot valleys. This paper examines the history of vegetation studies in the dry-hot valleys, and summarizes studies on flora, vegetation and land use and cover change, as well as vegetation restoration. Research of plant communities and flora have mainly focused on the classification of the community and vegetation types, the characteristics of the community, the influence of human disturbance, and the characteristics, nature and origin of the flora. The relationship between vegetation and land has mainly focused on the characteristics of soil, land use/cover change, land degradation and soil erosion. The hot spots of vegetation protection and restoration include the study of vegetation restoration objectives, functional zoning of vegetation restoration, the introduction and selection of vegetation restoration research, and evaluation of the effectiveness of vegetation restoration. We propose that more attention to be paid to the study of the prevention of natural disasters, the impacts of hydropower construction on vegetation, and in-depth vegetation monitoring and analysis of the spatiotemporal dynamics at multiple scales.

Key words: dry-hot valley, plant community, flora, land relationship, vegetation restoration, prospect