Biodiv Sci ›› 2020, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (6): 658-667.  DOI: 10.17520/biods.2019371

• Original Papers: Plant Diversity • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Species diversity and environmental interpretation of herb layer in lava platform of Wudalianchi, China

Qingyang Huang1,Hongjie Cao1,2,Lihong Xie1,Chunyu Luo1,Fan Yang1,Limin Wang1,Hongwei Ni2,3,*()   

  1. 1 Institute of Natural Resources and Ecology, Heilongjiang Academy of Sciences, Harbin 150040
    2 National and Provincial Joint Engineering Laboratory of Wetlands and Ecological Conservation, Harbin 150040
    3 Heilongjiang Academy of Forestry, Harbin 150081
  • Received:2019-11-24 Accepted:2020-05-27 Online:2020-06-20 Published:2020-08-19
  • Contact: Hongwei Ni

Abstract:

The Wudalianchi volcanic lava platform, a volcanic landscape, is important to understand plant community mechanisms to volcanic primary succession. In this paper, the herbaceous species of the Wudalianchi volcanic lava platform were studied, which belonged to bryophyte, herb, shrub, mixed-forest, and mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest plots. Soil nutrients and soil moisture were also studied with the canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) method along with species diversity indices such as the Simpson, Shannon-Wiener, Pielou, and species richness indices. Our results show that: (1) There were 56 plant species in the herb layer, accounting for 82.35% of the total species in the volcanic platform while diversity, dominance, and evenness indices of the herb layer was higher than other vegetation types. (2) Soil pH had a considerable influence on species richness and spatial distribution of herbaceous species in the herb layer. (3) Soil factors accounted for 79.39% of the community’s distribution, among which soil pH, available phosphorus, nitrate nitrogen, and ammonium nitrogen accounted for a large proportion. (4) Patrinia rupestris, Artemisia sacrorum, Poa sphondylodes, and Ixeris chinensis had low environmental requirements and adapted uniquely to the poor environment of the lava platform. Vegetation within the platform showed specific resource demands, which are due to differences in lava type that alter soil water, pH, and soil nutrients, thereby impacting plant community distributions.

Key words: Wudalianchi, volcanic lava platform, herb layer, species, soil factor, environmental interpretation