复合生态系统工程中高效去除磷、氮植被植物的筛选研究

对8种漫灌和垄沟处理和利用单元的植被植物进行了去除污水中磷、氮效能的筛选研究，以皇草为植被的垄沟系统具有较高的净化效能，TP和TN的去除率分别为83．2％和76．3％；以水稻Ⅰ（88—132）和水稻Ⅱ（Suakoto8）为植被的漫灌系统对污水中的N有很高的去除利用效能，去除率分别为84．7和84．3％．质量平衡的研究结果表明，对于以水稻Ⅰ和水稻Ⅱ为植被的漫灌系统及以皇草为植被的垄沟系统而言，植物的吸收作用最主要的是去除污水中N、P的机制；这些植物吸收N、P的能力和对整个处理单元去除污水中N、P的贡献程度与其生物质产量和种植管理方式密切相关．

香荚兰园地植被植物调查

西双版纳人工荫棚、桁架式载培的香荚兰园地中，主要有３０种草本植物，构成园地植被，其中苔藓类植物植被和小叶冷水花、卷柏科植物植被有利于香荚兰根系和植株的生长；而积雪草繁殖、生长较快，根系密集，对香荚兰根系营养、水分和生长形成竞争；碎米荠容易感染白绢病和轮枝菌病，两种植被对香荚兰不利。在一般栽培条件下，第一代杂草植被之后第二代植被为小叶冷水花、卷柏科植物、积雪草和碎米荠，在较湿润条件下，第三代植被为苔藓类植被。初步调查结果为香荚兰园植被的选择、利用提供了依据。

永平金光寺省级自然保护区植被与植物多样性研究

永平金光寺省级自然保护区拥有丰富的植被资源,采用野外实地调查与查阅相关资料相结的方式,对该区域植物多样性进行整理分析。结果表明,保护区共有植物142科479属938种,其中国家重点保护野生植物29种;植物生活型组成为:草本植物402种,灌木231种,乔木175种,藤本130种;保护区植被呈明显的垂直分布,划分为6种植被型、12个群系、16个群落。保护区植物组成复杂且丰富,植被类型多样且具有典型性,具重要的保护价值。提出强化保护区植物资源的保护管理,加强植物资源监测,保持生态系统的连贯性和完整性等建议。

蔡木山自然保护区植被特征

对地处农牧交错区典型地段的内蒙古多伦县蔡木山自然保护区植被特征进行了描述 ,结果表明 :草原植被是本保护区的主要植被类型之一 :包括典型草原植被和草甸草原植被 .沙地植被是本保护区的另一重要植被类型 :包括 :沙地森林植被 (主要以山杨 ( Populusdavidiana)一白桦 ( Betula platyphylla)林和榆 ( Ulmusmacrocarpa)树疏林为主和零星分布的云杉林 ( Picea) ) ;沙地灌丛植被 ( (叉子圆柏 ( Sabina.vulgaris)灌丛 :山杏 ( Prunus sibirica)灌丛 :大果榆 ( U.macrocarpa)灌丛 :柳 ( Salix)灌丛 :沙地中生灌丛 ) ;沙地半灌木植被和沙地草本植被 .湿地植被 .包括 :草甸 (草原化草甸、草甸和沼泽化草甸 )

川西北退牧还草工程区围栏草地植被恢复效果的研究

通过对川西北草原退牧还草工程区围栏草地植被恢复效果的研究，结果表明。退化草地经围栏禁牧和休牧后，由于有效消除了放牧干扰，草地得到休养生息，开始不断改善和恢复，植物种类和数量增多．物种多样性提高，样地的物种多样性大小表现为：休牧〉禁牧〉对照；围栏样地地上生物量增加明显，平均比对照高出50．36％～88．77％；草群高度也明显增高。比对照平均高出36．79％～76．98％；草地总盖度变大，禁牧和休牧草地分别比对照提高了11．49％～17．28％。同时，草地质量明显提高，优良牧草开始增多，而毒杂草的种类和数量开始减少。综合评价，各年度退牧还草工程区内草地植被生态恢复效果良好。

Development of Plant Embryology in China

The development of plant embryology in China can be roughly divided into three stages: (1) the initial stage, (2) the stage of establishing plant embryology as a branch of plant sciences, and (3) the stage when plant embryology evolves into plant reproductive biology with its vigorous development. It is in the third stage that research work in this field in China has developed rapidly and many of the significant achievements obtained are described in more details in this review. Researches of experimental embryology are not included in this paper.

Status of urban vegetation in Guangzhou City

According to a survey for the urban vegetation of Guangzhou, urban vegetation has a significantly difference from natural vegetation because of intense human impacts. The research was conducted in a synthetic survey for soil, species di-versity, roadside trees and ecological function of urban vegetation in Guangzhou City. The results showed that: (1) soil densi-ties of urban roadside and park forests were higher than mean density of natural forest soil. The pH values of soil in urban roadside were higher too, and the content of organic matter and the concentration of nitrogen were lower. (2) Species diversity of urban vegetation was lower. The most number of species was only 16 species in tree layers of urban forest. (3) Tree growth was limited by narrow space in high-density urban area, where the trees with defects and disorders were common. (4) Com-paring with mature natural forests, the productivity of urban vegetation was lower. The effect of urban vegetation on balance of carbon and oxygen were influenced by the low primary production of urban vegetation. Therefore, the growth condition for urban vegetation should be improved. Biodiversity, primary production and ecological function should be increased for urban vegetation in order to improve urban eco-environment.

Distribution patterns of vegetation biomass and nutrients bio-cycle in alpine tundra ecosystem on Changbai Mountains,Northeast China

A study was conducted to test the correlation between biomass and elevation and the differences in concentration and storks of nutrients among five vegetation types （Felsenmeer alpine tundra vegetation-FA, Lithic alpine tundra vegetation-LA, Typical alpine tundra vegetation-TA, Meadow alpine tundra vegetation-MA, and Swamp alpine tundra vegetation-SA） on alpine tundra of Changbai Mountains, Jilin Province, China in growing seasons of 2003, 2004 and 2005. The biomass of 43 mono-species and soil nutrients in alpine tundra ecosystem were also investigated. Dominant species from Ericaceae （such as Rhododendron chrysanthum and Vaccinium jliginosum var. alpinum） were taken to analyze organ biomass distribution. Result showed that the biomass and elevation had a significant correlation （Biomass-237.3 in（Elevation） ＋494.36; R^2=0.8092; P〈0.05）. No significant differences were found in phosphorus and sulphur concentrations of roots, stems and leaves among the five vegetation types. There were significant differences in nitrogen and phosphorus stocks of roots, stems and leaves and in sulphur stock of stems and leaves among TA, MA, and SA vegetation types （p〈0.05）. The nutrient stock of five vegetations was averagely 72.46 kg.hm^-2, of which N, P, S were 48.55, 10.33 and 13.61 kg·hm^-2, respectively. Soil N and S concentrations in meadow alpine tundra soil type was significantly higher than those in other four soil types （Cold desert alpine tundra soil, Lithic alpine tundra soil, Peat alpine tundra soil, and Gray alpine tundra soil）. Phosphorous concentration in SA type was higher （p〈0.05） than in other types. Soil nutrient stock （0-20cm） was averagely 39.59 t.hm^-2, of which N, P, S were 23.74, 5.86, 9.99 t·hm^-2, respectively.

Plant Traits and Soil Chemical Variables During a Secondary Vegetation Succession in Abandoned Fields on the Loess Plateau

Species dynamics in terms of both plant biological traits, ecological strategies and species richness as well as soil chemical variables during a secondary succession in abandoned fields on the Loess Plateau along a temporal sere from 3 a to 149 a were studied. The results indicated that (I) Soil total C and N increased while soil pH, total K and Na decreased with years since abandonment. No noticeable trend was found in the case of soil P along the successional sere. On the other hand, total CaO of the surface layer (0 - 10 cm) decreased, but that of the two deeper layer, (20 - 30 cm, 40 - 50 cm) increased with years since abandonment. Soil C, N, K and P decreased, while Na, CaO and soil pH increased with increasing soil depth. (2) Species richness peaked at both mid-stage of the successional sere and the intermediate portion of soil chemical variables gradient. (3) An ideal dominant species in the early successional stage were annuals with stable seed pool, CR-life strategy, S-regeneration strategy, and strong competitive ability on relatively poor soil, while perennials capable of intensive lateral spread and colonal ability, requiring high nutrient supply, and having Clife strategy would be the dominant species in the subsequent stages. Plant traits, such as perennial-life history, C-, CR-, SC-, SR-, S- and R-life strategies, W-, S-, Bs- VBs- and V-regeneration strategies, were over- represented throughout the whole sere among the other species. (4) Some traits, such as C-, SC-life strategies, ability of clonality, perennial-life history, well-developed lateral spread ability, V- and VBs-regeneration strategies, seed animal. dispersal mode, flowering time of autumn, fruit types of legumen and nut, were more or less correlated with increased soil total C, N and K, while S-, SR-, R-, CR-life strategies, annual-, biannual-life history, non-clonal ability, S-regeneration strategy, poor lateral spread ability, and fruit types of utricle, capsule were associated with increased soil total Na, CaO and pH. The results suggested that steppes should be the dominant native vegetation coinciding with the large-scaled eco-climatic conditions on the Loess Plateau.

Estimation of Net Primary Productivity of Terrestrial Vegetation in China by Remote Sensing

Among the many approaches for studying the net primary productivity (NPP), a new method by using remote sensing was introduced in this paper. With spectral information source (the visible band, near infrared band and thermal infrared band) of NOAA-AVHRR, we can get the relative index and parameters, which can be used for estimating NPP of terrestrial vegetation. By means of remote sensing, the estimation of biomass and NPP is mainly based on the models of light energy utilization. In other words, the biomass and NPP can be calculated from the relation among NPP, absorbed photosynthetical active radiation (APAR) and the rate (epsilon) of transformation of APAR to organic matter, thus: NPP = ( FPAR x PAR) x [epsilon * x sigma (T) x sigma (E) x sigma (S) x (1 - Y-m) x (1 - Y-g)]. Based upon remote sensing ( RS) and geographic information system (GIS), the NPP of terrestrial vegetation in China in every ten days was calculated, and the annual NPP was integrated. The result showed that the total NPP of terrestrial vegetation in China was 6.13 x 10(9) t C . a(-1) in 1990 and the maximum NPP was 1 812.9 g C/m(2). According to this result, the spatio-temporal distribution of NPP was analyzed. Comparing to the statistical models, the RS model, using area object other than point one, can better reflect the distribution of NPP, and match the geographic distribution of vegetation in China.

地质事件和季风气候影响了云南植物区系和植被的演化

古植物学研究发现云南现代的植物区系和植被的基本面貌在古近纪就已开始,这些发现在很大程度上改变了我们以往对云南现代植被与植物区系起源和演化的认识,需要从新的思路进行探索。本文根据古植物学发现和地质历史事件、季风气候形成,结合我们对现代云南植物区系地理和植被的研究,探讨了云南植被与植物区系的自然演化历程。云南的植物区系和植被有一个远古的历史,它们的形成与演化受到新生代以来发生的地质事件和季风气候的影响。云南植物区系的地理成分构成显示它在早期具有热带起源背景和第三纪热带、亚热带东亚植物区系基础,在后期演化上主要受热带亚洲植物区系和北温带植物区系的影响。喜马拉雅-青藏高原的隆升及伴随的地质事件,直接影响了云南植物区系的演化,而西南季风气候的形成与加强是云南植被面貌成型的主要影响因素,特别对云南热带雨林植被的发育是一个直接因素。云南的热带植物区系和热带植被(干热河谷除外)呈西北-东南倾斜分布格局,可能受到思茅-兰坪地质板块的顺时针旋转和向东南的位移,以及缅甸北部地质板块向北位移的地质事件直接影响。云南的亚热带常绿阔叶林植物区系的分化与喜马拉雅隆升密切相关,至少在晚中新世它们就已开始分化,随喜马拉雅隆升和西南季风的形成和加强,促进了它们的分异。云南干热河谷萨王纳植被(savanna)的演化则与喜马拉雅隆升产生的深切河谷及河流袭夺等地质事件密切相关,其中的一些代表性物种显示了与印度和非洲萨王纳植被的联系。云南现存间断和残存分布的热带落叶林(热带季雨林)在上新世至更新世或之前的一个季风气候更强而导致的季节性更强或更为干旱的时期曾可能与大陆东南亚地区的热带落叶林有广泛的联系。云南的硬叶常绿阔叶林则是随喜马拉雅隆升而演化的以我国西南地区特有硬叶栎类树种为特征的一类硬叶常绿阔叶林,它们是从原先的热带-亚热带常绿阔叶林中演化产生的一类古地中海渊缘的植被。因此,地质历史事件真实影响了云南的植物区系形成与演化,伴随的西南季风气候的形成与加强则是影响云南植被,特别是热带雨林发生和演化的主要因素。

Effects of Water-table Depth and Soil Moisture on Plant Biomass, Diversity, and Distribution at a Seasonally Flooded Wetland of Poyang Lake, China

Hydrological regime has been widely recognized as one of the major forces determining vegetation distribution in seasonally flooded wetland. Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, has been encountering dramatic changes in hydrological conditions in last decade, which greatly influenced the wetland vegetations. To explore the relationships between hydrology and vegetation distri- bution, water-table depth, soil moisture, species composition, diversity and biomass were measured at a seasonally flooded wetland section at Wucheng National Nature Reserve. Three plant communities, Artemisia capillaris, Phragmites australis and Carex cineras- cens communities, were examined which are zonally distributed from upland to lakeshore with decreasing elevation. Canonical corre- spondence analysis （CCA）, spearmen correlation and logistic regression were adopted to analyze the relationships between vegetation characteristics and hydrological variables of water-table depth and soil moisture. Results show that significant hydrological gradient exist along the wetland transect. Water-table demonstrates a seasonal variation and is consistently deepest in A. capillaris community （ranging from q）.5 m above ground to ＋10.3 m below ground）, intermediate in P. australis community （-2.6 m to ＋7.8 m） and shallow- est in C. cinerascens community （-4.5 m to ＋6.1 m）. Soil moisture is lowest and most variable in A. capillaris community, highest and least variable in P. australis community, and intermediate and moderate variable in C. cinerascens community. The CCA ordination indicated that variables of water-table depth and soil moisture are strongly related to community distribution, which explained 81.7% of the vegetation variations. Species diversity indices are significantly positively correlated with soil moisture and negatively correlated with moisture variability, while above- and belowground biomass are positively correlated with moisture. Above- and belowground biomass present Gaussian models along the gradient of average water-table depth in growing season, while species diversity indices show bimodal patterns. The optimal average water-table depths for above- and belowground biomass are 0.8 m and 0.5 m, respectively, and are 2.2 m and 2.4 m for species richness and Shannon-Wiener indices, respectively. Outcomes of this work improved the under- standings of the relationship between hydrology and vegetation.

Diversity of desert rangelands of Tunisia

Plants are important components of any rangeland.However,the importance of desert rangeland plant diversity has often been underestimated.It has been argued that desert rangelands of Tunisia in good ecological condition provide more services than those in poor ecological condition.This is because rangelands in good condition support a more diverse mixture of vegetation with many benefits,such as forage for livestock and medicinal plants.Nearly one-quarter of Tunisia,covering about 5.5 million hectares,are rangelands,of which 87% are located in the arid and desert areas(45% and 42%,respectively).Here,we provide a brief review of the floristic richness of desert rangelands of Tunisia.Approximately 135 species are specific to desert rangelands.The predominant families are Asteraceae,Poaceae,Brassicaceae,Chenopodiaceae,and Fabaceae.These represent approximately 50% of Tunisian desert flora.

Vegetation Composition and Structure of Some NeotropicaMountain Grasslands in Brazil

The description and understanding of plant communities is fundamental for the implementation of conservation or restoration programs, especially when these communities are highly threatened and need to be restored.Campos rupestres, some Neotropical mountain grasslands located in central Brazil and part of the Cerrado biome(covering 2 million km2) host unique plant communities, currently threatened by quarrying and mining.The grassy matrix of campos rupestres, has long been considered a rich mosaic under the control of local topography and the nature of substrate, but this affirmation has not been well studied.We analyzed whether plant communities varied in relation to edaphic factors within the stony substrate and the sandy substrate of this grassy matrix.We selected 5 sites where occur both grasslands on stony substrate and on sandy substrate, and we carried out vegetation surveys and soil analyses.We counted 222 plant species within our communities, among which38.6% are exclusively found on campos rupestres.Our results show that both soil-types are strongly acidic, nutrient poor and exhibit a seasonal variation.Phosphorus increases and p H and organic carbon decrease during the dry season.Stony soils areslightly richer in nutrients than sandy soils and differences in soil granulometry and composition have led to the formation of distinct plant communities.Some species are confined to either one or the other grassland-type, which makes the plant composition of each community unique.Variations in edaphic factors generate heterogeneous grasslands favorable to a high plant diversity.Conservation programs and restoration actions have to maintain or recreate this heterogeneity.The presence of distinct plant communities implies that different strategies might be adopted to improve the restoration of these ecosystems.

Ecological species groups and interspecific association of vegetation in natural recovery process at Xiejiadian landslide after 2008 Wenchuan earthquake

Wenchuan earthquake on 12 May 2008 triggered numerous landslides, which disturbed vast areas of vegetation in northwest Sichuan. However, based on our primary field investigation at Xiejiadian landslide in July 2009, we found an obvious increase of the number of plant species and then we made a hypothesis that, after earthquake, vegetation at this landslide might recover by itself. In this paper, we conduct a newly field investigation at Xiejiadian landslide during November 2014 to verify this hypothesis. We investigated plant species composition at total 56 sites(trees 4, shrubs 16 and herbs 36, respectively), and calculated the Schluter's variance ratio, important values, x2 test, associationcoefficient, Ochiai index, Pearson's and Spearman's correlation coefficients, and Ecological species groups. Species sharply increased to 84 species belonging to 66 genera and 54 families, forming a complete life form containing trees, shrubs, herbs, and ground layers while only herbs detected in 2009. Moreover, an overall positive and moderately related interspecies association was detected for most of species pairs. Of total 84 species, twenty five were identified as dominant species and could be divided into four positive ecological species groups. This study verified our proposed hypothesis of self-recovery of vegetation in landslide triggered by the earthquake, and found Alnus cremastogyne, Rhus chinensis, Litsea cubeba, Vitis piasezkii and Anemone vitifolia would play a constructive role during the continuing succession of vegetation at Xiejiadian landslide.

Application of Hydrogen Peroxide as an Environmental Stress Indicator for Vegetation Management

Adaptive vegetation management is time-consuming and requires long-term colony monitoring to obtain reliable results. Although vegetation management has been widely adopted, the only method existing at present for evaluating the habitat conditions under management involves observations over a long period of time. The presence of reactive oxygen species （ROS） has long been used as an indicator of environmen- tal stress in plants, and has recently been intensely studied. Among such ROS, hydrogen peroxide （H202） is relatively stable, and can be conveniently and accurately quantified. Thus, the quantification of plant H202 could be applied as a stress indicator for riparian and aquatic vegetation management approaches while evaluating the conditions of a plant species within a habitat. This study presents an approach for elucidating the applicability of H202 as a quantitative indicator of environmental stresses on plants, particularly for vegetation management. Submerged macrophytes and riparian species were studied under laboratory and field conditions （Lake Shinji, Saba River, Eno River, and Hii River in Japan） for H202 formation under various stress conditions. The results suggest that H202 can be conveniently applied as a stress indicator in environmental management.

IMPACT OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION ON VEGETATION ALONGSIDE QINGHAI-XIZANG HIGHWAY AND RAILWAY

Based on the field investigation in August 2001 and August 2002, digitalChina Vegetation Map in 2001 and Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau Vegetation Regionalization Map in1996, vegetation characteristics along two sides of Qinghai-Xizang highway and railway are studiedin this paper. Meanwhile, the impact of Qinghai-Xizang highway and railway constructions on thevegetation types are analyzed using ARCVIEW, ARC/INFO and PATCH ANALYSIS. It was found that: 1)Qinghai-Xizang highway and railway span 9 latitudes, 12 longitudes and 6 physical geographic regions(East Qinghai and Qilian mountain steppe region, Qaidam mountain desert region, SouthQinghai-Xizang alpine meadow steppe region, Qiangtang alpine steppe region, Golog-Nagqu alpine shrubmeadow region and South Xizang mountain shrub steppe region); 2) the construction of Qinghai-Xizanghighway and railway destroyed natural vegetation and landscape, especially in 50m-wide bufferregions along both sides of the roads, it was estimated that the net primary productivity deceasedby about 30 504.62t/a and the gross biomass deceased by 432 919.25-1 436 104.3t. The losing primaryproductivity accounted for 5.70% of the annual primary productivity within Ikm-wide buffer regions(535 005.07-535 740.11t/a), and only 0.80%-0.89% of that within 10km-wide buffer regions (3 408950.45-3 810 480.92t/a). The losing gross biomass was about 9.47%-17.06% of the gross biomass within1km-wide buffer regions (7 502 971.85-25 488 342.71t), and only 1.47%-2.94% of that within10km-wide buffer regions (43 615 065.35-164 150 665.37t).

Vegetation Composition of Abu Tartur Mining Region （Western Desert, Egypt）： Biological and Phytochemical Survey of Some Studied Taxa

Groundwater in Egypt plays an important role in the country＇s water budget. South Western desert represent an arid of desert biome within world＇s net-work of the biosphere reserves. In this study, the plant wild vegetation were surveyed in Abu Tartur mining area located in the Southern part of Western depending essentially on the seepage from water line tubes which supplies water demands at Abu Tartur. The vegetation-environment relationships in Abu Tartur are described. Data sets （42 species in 38 plots） beside the pip-line enriched from 13 wells were analyzed, using multivariate procedures, i.e., two-way indicator species analysis （TW1NSPAN）, detrended correspondence analysis （DCA） and detrended canonical correspondence analysis （CCA）, to produce a classification of plant communities in the studied areas and to examine the relationships of that plant communities to certain edaphic factors. Five plant communities were identified. Astragalus vogelii, Chenopodium murale, Citrullus colocynthis, Fagonia arabica, Farsetia aegyptia, Hyoscyamus muticus, Morettia philaeana, Cynodon dactylon, Trichodesma africana, Tarnarix nilotica, Senna italica, Schouwia purpurea, Salsola volkensii and Phragmites australis were common in the study area. Phytochemical survey for nitroprpionic compounds in some taxa belonging to Fabaceae family showed the absence of these toxic compounds by using GC/MS analysis. Also some phytochemical components ofAstragalus vogalii were extracted and identified by GC/MS spectra. A biological activity, in this regard was the screening of methanol extracts for some wild taxa of Abu Tartur against natural Tetranychus urticae as acricidal activity and the methanol extracts of some taxa give high mortality results, like Farsetia aegyptia （86.6%） and Fagonia arabica Burm. f. （70.0%）.

Comparative Assessment of Tundra Vegetation Changes Between North and Southwest Slopes of Changbai Mountains, China, in Response to Global Warming

Vegetation in high altitude areas normally exhibits the strongest response to global warming. We investigated the tundra vegetation on the Changbai Mountains and revealed the similarities and differences between the north and the southwest slopes of the Changbai Mountains in response to global warming. Our results were as follows: 1) The average temperatures in the growing season have increased from 1981 to 2015, the climate tendency rate was 0.38℃/10 yr, and there was no obvious change in precipitation observed. 2) The tundra vegetation of the Changbai Mountains has changed significantly over the last 30 years. Specifically, herbaceous plants have invaded into the tundra zone, and the proportion of herbaceous plants was larger than that of shrubs. Shrub tundra was transforming into shrub-grass tundra. 3) The tundra vegetation in the north and southwest slopes of the Changbai Mountains responded differently to global warming. The southwest slope showed a significantly higher degree of invasion from herbaceous plants and exhibited greater vegetation change than the north slope. 4) The species diversity of plant communities on the tundra zone of the north slope changed unimodally with altitude, while that on the tundra zone of the southwest slope decreased monotonously with altitude. Differences in the degree of invasion from herbaceous plants resulted in differences in species diversity patterns between the north and southwest slopes. Differences in local microclimate, plant community successional stage and soil fertility resulted in differential responses of tundra vegetation to global warming.

Plant Communities and Factors Responsible for Vegetation Pattern in an Alpine Area of the Northwestern Himalaya

The study intended to describe the alpine vegetation of a protected area of the northwestern Himalaya and identify the important environmental variables responsible for species distribution.We placed random plots covering different habitats and altitude to record species composition and environmental variables.Vegetation was classified using hierarchical cluster analysis and vegetation-environment relationships were evaluated with Canonical Correspondence Analysis.Four communities,each in alpine shrub and meadows were delineated and well justified in the ordination plots.Indicator species for the different communities were identified.Maximum species richness and diversity were found in community IV among shrub communities and community II among the meadows.Studied environmental variables explained 61.5% variation in shrub vegetation and 59.8% variation in meadows.Soil variables explained higher variability (～35%) than spatial variables (～21%) in both shrubs and meadows.Altitude,among the spatial variables and carbon/nitrogen ratio and nitrogen among the soil variables explained maximum variation.About 40% variations left unexplained.Latitude and species diversity among the other variables had significant correlation with ordination axes.Study showed that altitude and C/N ratio played a significant role in species composition.Extensive sampling efforts and inclusion of other non-studied variables are also suggested for better understanding.