Abstract: Musa acuminata , a huge herbaceous plant, usually develops a mono dominant plant community in tropical regions. In order to understand the successional dynamics and structure characteristics of this community, three pioneer Musa acuminata communities of different ages on the same slope, each of which regenerated from tropical rain forest after slash and burn cultivation in Mamushu, Mengla County, Xishuangbanna, were chosen for establishment of three 1000 m 2 permanent plots. A grid (5 m×5 m) was used to record all individuals over 2.0 cm DBH in each plot. Shrub and herb species were investigated in 2 m×2 m sub quadrats. Plant species composition, floral distribution types, structural characteristics, and the age structure and number of the Musa acuminata populations in each community were analyzed. The results showed that, in each 1000 m 2 plot, plant species richness increased with community development from 30 species, 27 genera and 17 families at the invasion stage to 98 species, 74 genera and 50 families in the habitation stage, and further to 113 species, 87 genera and 55 families in the expansion stage. The floral composition in each plot can be divided into nine distributional types, of which the tropical distribution comprised 90%. The ratio of Pan tropic and Asian tropic (Indo—Malesia) increased, while the ratio of Old World tropics and East Asia to North American disjunction decreased with forest age. The tree species diversity index (Shannon Wiener index) in the arboreal layer increased from 1.79 in invasion stage to 2.83 in habitation stage, and then decreased to 1.87 in the expansion stage. Diversity in the understory also increased from 2.78 in habitation stage to 3.56 in expansion stage. The structure of communities became more and more complex, and the number of individual stems in each plot and the individual frequency in each age class of the Musa acuminata population sharply increased with development. The development of the Musa acuminata community has no effect on the directionality of community succession, which is proceeding towards a humid tropical rain forest community.

Key words: western China, animal resource, sustainable development, strategies