Species Diversity And Conservation Of Orchids Of Daiyunshan National Nature Reserve, Fujian And Taxonomic Study Of Zeuxine (Orchidaceae) In China

Orchidaceae is one of the flagship taxa in biodiversity conservation, and all of them are contained in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The quantity and growth condition of orchids can reflect the status of biodiversity in some regions objectively.Through field work, specimen and literature study, this study investigated the orchid species, growth condition and distribution characteristics in Daiyunshan national nature reserve, and analyzed orchids’floristic compositions and altitudinal distribution patterns as well as providing a wild key to species of Orchidaceae of Daiyunshan. Meanwhile, the conservation status of the orchids was evaluated according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (IUCN,2001). Comparisons about species richness, R/T value and floristic compositions between Daiyunshan and its adjacent 10 areas have been made. Orchids flora types were clustered with SPSS 20.0. The results show that:1. There are 64 species belonging to 31 genera in Daiyunshan National Nature Reserve, in which 17 species are new records from this reserve. Goodyera henryi is a new record from Fujian province.2. The species diversity of orchids of Daiyunshan National Nature Reserve is preceded only by Yushan, Nanling and Huboliao. There are 5 dominant genera including 31 species accounting for 16.13% of the total genera and 48.44% of the total species. Whereas,19 genera with only one species account for 61.29% of the total species, which indicated the rich biodiversity and genera complexity of orchid flora of Daiyunshan.3. The phytogeographical distribution patterns of orchid genera of Daiyunshan National Nature Reserve can be classified into six areal-types. Three main floristic compositions are tropical Asia and tropical Australia areal-type, tropical Asia areal-type and temperate areal-type, accounting for 50.00%,23.33% and 13.33% of the total genera respectively. The phytogeographical distribution patterns of species of orchids of Daiyunshan National Nature Reserve can be classified into seven areal-types. Three main floristic compositions are tropical Asia areal-type, endemic to China areal-type and East Asia areal-type, accounting for 34.38%,21.88% and 20.31% of the total species respectively.4. The R/T values of genera and species decreased along with the increase of latitude in general. It is also affected by the geographical location and climatic factors of different regions.5. The species cluster was better than the genera cluster with matching the geographic location. The species cluster indicated that there was a certain relationship between orchids’flora of Daiyunshan and that of Yushan.6. The orchid diversity presents a hump-shaped pattern along the elevational gradient. There is a higher similarity index between the adjacent elevational belts. The most abundant species diversity presents an altitude 700-900 m.Zeuxine Lindley belongs to Goodyerinae (Orchidaceae), consisting of about 50-90 species, and 14 species were recorded in China. However, interspecific phylogeny relationship was unclear. This study aims at clarifying the phylogenetic relationships within Zeuxine via literature and specimen study, field work, morphological observation as well as molecular biology analysis by using ITS, trnL-F and matK. Forty-nine samples of eight genera and 31 species were set as ingroups, and Erythrodes blumei and Goody era biflora were assigned as outgroups. The results are as follows:1. Zeuxine was confirmed as monophyly and had close relationship with Hayata, Cheirostylis and Hetaeria.2. The molecular results supported Hayata and Zeuxinella to be independent, just with good agreements with the morphological features. However, the results did not supported Pridgeon’s idea that Zeuxine should be divided into two sections according to the leaf shape. The structure of pollinia, the colour and dilating degree of lip should be better features to make the division of sections.3. The Zeuxine parvifolia complex including Z. affinis, Z. tenuifolia, Z. reflexa, Z. parvifolia, Z. grandis and Z gracilis are similar to each other. Molecular and morphological characteristics can’t clarify their interspecific relationships.4. Zeuxine ovalifolia was treated as a synonym of Z. agyokuana.5. Zeuxine sakagutii was treated as a synonym of Z. clandestina.