A comparative study on species diversity in zonal forest communities

Based on plant community investigation and references available,we calculated and analyzed the species richness,diversity,evenness of main communities of the typical vegetation distributed in warm temperate zone (represented by Dongling Mt.),the ecotone zone of warm temperate and subtropics (represented by Qinling Mt.),subtropical zone (represented mainly by Xishuangbanna),respectively.We found that the species richness and diversity of shrub layer were highest in subtropical zone and Qinling ranked second.Dongling Mt.had the lowest species richness and diversity.However,the change of species richness and diversity of herb layer almost oppositly to that of tree layer.In addition to the latitude change,we also analyzed the changes of species richness and diversity along the altitude and community types.Probably due to noise of other enviromnental factors,no obvious tendency of change of species richness and diversity was found.