Study on Plant Diversity of Duheyuan Nature Reserve on the Northern Slope of Mt.Shennongjia,Hubei,China

To establish nature reserve for conserving the abundant biodiversity in Duheyuan region of Northern slope of Shennongjia and to provide basic data for evaluating plant origin,vegetation succession,biodiversity and endangered species status in Shennongjia region,based on historical data and field survey,wildlife resourses in Duheyuan region are researched,and floristic elements,plant diversity and its threated(situation) are analysed in 2002.The results show that:(1) The vascular plants consist of 1733 species(including subspecies and varieties) which belong to 730 genus and 174 families in Duheyuan nature reserve;(2) The flora compositin is complicated and various in the region.Tropical genera account for 31.02% of total genera,whereas temperate genera represent 63.27%,which reveal the flora is temperate.There are 37 Chinese endemic genus including 27 ancient endemic genus,indicating that the flora is old;(3) There are 23 forms which belong to four groups of vegetational type and eight vegetatio-(nal) types in this region.According to the threatened situation,effective measures including vegetation-(restoration),eco-emigration,the rare and endangered species conservation and community co-management for plant diversity conservation are suggested for Duheyuan Nature Reserve.