Biodiv Sci ›› 2020, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (7): 854-866.  DOI: 10.17520/biods.2019263

Special Issue: 罗霄山脉生物多样性专题

• Special Feature: Biodiversity of the Luoxiao Mountains • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The endemism and relict property of spermatophyte flora of the Luoxiao Mountains

Wanyi Zhao1, Zhongcheng Liu1,2, Lei Wang2, Qiang Fan1,*(), Jia Liu1, Wenbo Liao1,*()   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275
    2 College of Resource Environment and Tourism, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048
  • Received:2019-08-20 Accepted:2020-02-20 Online:2020-07-20 Published:2020-09-29
  • Contact: Qiang Fan,Wenbo Liao

Abstract:

The Luoxiao Mountains with a bundant spermatophyte flora, which is an important channel connecting the flora of East, South and Centre of China, and was characterized by an prominent antiquity and relict property. This study focuses on endemic and relict genera or species in the Luoxiao Mountains by analyzing their composition, geographical structure and formation. (1) The results show that 3 families, 55 genera and 1,624 species are endemic to China within the Luoxiao Mountains; and 43 species and 7 varieties are endemic to the Luoxiao Mountains. Among the endemic genera, the palaeoendemic and relict genera account for a large proportion, which was dominated by temperate elements (account for 55.91% of total of endemic genera). (2) There are 165 relict genera in the Luoxiao Mountains, including 132 woody genera, and they mainly dominated by a tropics Asia dirtribution genera, East Asian-North American disjuncted distribution genera, East Asian endemic genera and Chinese endemic genera. (3) Additionally, due to climate fluctuations after the Miocene Epoch and during the Quaternary glacial period, the Luoxiao Mountains appears to have inherited a abundant evergreen northern tropical flora and deciduous Arctic or Northern-Tertiary flora. The analysis of endemic and relict characteristic implies that the Luoxiao Mountains is an important biological refuge, which is important to preserve and rediffusion of the flora of eastern China.

Key words: the Luoxiao Mountains, endemism, relict property, relict genus, biological refuge