The Study Of Species Diversity Of Plants In Beita Mountain, Xinjiang

The Beita Mountain of Xinjiang located in the northern tip of the Qitai, Mulei and Balikun county, isa boundary mountain between the eastern of Junggar Basin in Xinjiang and the southwestern of Mongolia.It is about350km long and a narrow mountain. Through field investigation and the methods ofmorphological taxonomy, the vascular plants were systematically studied, the characteristics of speciesdiversity were analysed. The reserach indicated that:About54families246genera491species4subsp and5varieties of vascular plants were recorded inBeita Mountain, Xinjiang, respectively accounting for44.26%of family,33.15%of genera and14.00%ofspecies in Xinjiang, and the specie is poor.1new species Astragalus miniatus Bunge was found inXinjiang.The plant in the eastern and the western of this area is obviously different. The Beita mountain about100km long in the western is higher, and it has certain precipitation, and vegetation which including54families,238genera,472species is rich, the plant in the north slope are mesophyte. Larix sibirica andPopulus pilosa and so on are dominant species. The plant composition of this area is similar to Altai. Thenorthren international boundary mountains in Balikun, Xinjiang, is about230km long in the eastern isvery drought. There are about30families,70genera,89species, and most of them are xerophytes and it’splant component is closed to Junggar Basin. There are30families,62genera,70species in the two placesand the similar coefficients of plant families, genera and species in the two aera are55.56%,25.20%,14.26%. This result indicated that there is a big difference in the genera and species.The characteristics of families’ composition: from the genus level of family, the family whichincluding16genus have4(Compositae35g, Poaceae32, Cruciferae20, Chenopodiaceae19), total106genera206species and accounted for43.09%of total genus and41.96%of total specie number. It’s a bigproportion and they became the main composition of this flora. The middle genus family which including6-15genus total are7families61genus135species, respectively accounted for12.96%and24.80%,27.49%of the total families and genus and species. One genus family and few genus family (2-5genus)total had43families, and accounted for79.63%of total family, which indicted that this area’s plantfamilies are abundance.Judging from the species level of family, the family which contained above50species areCompositae (35/70) and Poaceae (32/64), contained above20species are Cruciferae (20/32),Chenopodiaceae (19/40), Leguminosae (13/39), Rosaceae (5/22), Polygonaceae (6/18), total7family,accounted for12.96%of all families, total130genus287species, respectively accounted for52.85%ofgenus, and58.45%of species. Though they had a little proportion, they contained above half of total genusand species, suggesting that these7families occupy an important place in the composition of the flora.One genus family and few genus (2-9species) family total had41families, accounted for75.93%of total families. Those results showed that this area’s environment is bad, and a little of species of most familiesdistributed in this place.The genus composition of this area is abundant. In the level of consist of genus, the genus whichcontained above10species are Potentilla (14), Astragalus (14), Oxytropis (11), Poa (11), Artemisia (10)and so on, total had5genus and60species, respectively accounted for2.03%of genus and12.22%ofspecies in total. The genus contained6-9species are Chenopodium (8), Taraxacum (8), Zygophyllum (7),Polygonum (6), Salsola (6), Lappula (6), Allium (6), total had7genus and47species, respectivelyaccounted for2.85%of genus and9.57%of species in total. Few species genus (2-5species) had86genus236species, respectively accounted for34.96%of genus and48.07%of species in total. One species genushad148genus148species, respectively accounted for60.16%of genus and30.14%of species in total. So,about234genus348species in one species genus and few species genus, respectively accounted for95.12%of genus and78.21%of total species, are the dominant composition. While most genus had only1or just a few species distributed in this area, which showed this area’s environment is very bad.The life-form is rich in this area, there are trees, shrubs, semi-shrubs, herbaceous perennial, biennialherbs, annuals, parasitic seven types; The advantage plant life-form is perennials dominant type, including309species, accounted for62.93%. Followed by annuals, total had84species, accounted for17.11%.45kinds of shrubs, accounting for9.16%,18kinds of semi-shrubs, accounted for3.67%.11kinds of biennialherbs, accounted for2.24%. Though only5kinds of tree, they are the important compositon of flora, and5species of parasitic. Ephemeral plants and ephemeroides ephemeral plants had about20species, mainlyconcentrated in the Beita mountain, with a low abundance compared to the western Junggar and desertlope of Tianshan.The ecological type is abundance. There are xeric, the raw, wet, aquatic and halophytes. The raw had367species, accounted for74.75%of total species, and they are the main component in this area, especiallyobvious in the north slope. Follow by xeric, which had84species, accounted for17.11%of total speciesand they distributed from the north western part of Beita mountain’s southern slope to the eastern mountain.Those results showed the environment is drought. There are only32species of wet and aquatic plants and8species of halophytes.The flora elements are various. This area consists of9distribution-types and12variety types.Temperate nature is extremely obvious, contact most closely with the Northern temperate regions.Meanwhile, most interflows between the flora in this area with that in the Old World Temperate andMediterranean, Western Asian and Central Asian. Whole the area studied blong Soongaria subregion, butthe plant components of northren international boundary mountains in Balikun which in the east of this areacloser to the Junggar Basin, Beita mountain in the west of this area although divided into Soongariasubregion, but the study found, Beita mountain, especially the plant ingredients in the western mountainmore similar to Altai. The composition had no contact with Tianshan.