Study on the Community Structure and Species Diversity of Degraded Subalpine Meadow with Different Coverages of Euphorbia jolkinii

PurposeTo explore the variation characteristics of community structure and species diversity (which was caused by the spread of Euphorbia jolkinii) in subalpine meadow in northwest Yunnan.

MethodThe traditional field ecology survey method and the data statistical analysis method were adopted in this research, and the community structure characteristics, the quantitative characteristics of E. jolkinii population and the species diversity were measured in this study.

ResultThe dominant species of subalpine meadow in northwest Yunnan changed from Blysmus sinocompressus + Carex tristachya + Poa pratensis + Potentilla fulgens to E. jolkinii + Potentilla fulgens + Spiranthes sinensis. And the plant density, the proportion of excellent forage, the Margalef index, Shannon Wiener index and Pielou index of the community decreased significantly; the proportion of poisonous species, the height, crown width, branch number and aboveground biomass of E. jolkinii increased significantly with the coverage of E. jolkinii increased from less than 10% to over 60%.

ConclusionThrough our study we can include that in the subalpine meadow in Northwest Yunnan, the yield of excellent forage and species diversity decreased and lost its production value gradually with the coverage of E. jolkinii increased from less than 10% to over 60%.