Species diversity of higher plant communities in Foping National Reserve

The species diversity of higher plant communities in Foping National Reserve was measured with species diversity index (Simpson index and Shannon index)，Pielou's evenness index and species richness. The result shows that the diversity of forest communities is higher than that of shrubs and meadow communities, the diversity of the deciduous broad-leaved forest is higher than that of coniferous forest, and that of oak forest is higher than that of popular and birch forest. The species diversity of higher plant communities decreases with the increase of elevation. The species diversity indices and evenness indices for different layers in forest communities show that the tree layer has similar species diversity and evenness with the shrub layer, while the herbaceous layer has higher diversity and evenness than both of the tree and the shrub layers.