Priority Area Identification Of Plant Species Diversity Conservation In Forest Regions Of Gansu Province

Priority area identification for biodiversity conservation has become one of hotspot subjects for biodiversity conservation. In this paper, the 11 main natural forest regions of Gansu province are selected as the basic geographic units of priority area identification for plant species diversity conservation. The biodiversity of these forest regions has been evaluated, based on the factors of species abandence, endemism and hierarity of wild wood plants, orchid plants, spermatophytic genera endemic to China and natural forest community types in these forest regions. According to the evaluation results, the respective critical areas of special taxon or groups of plants, and forest community types of Gansu are determinated, furthermore the Principle of Floristic Complementarity is applied to identify the Minimum Reserve Combination and the ordination of priority areas. The main results and conclusion are summarized as follows:(l)The critical areas of wood plants species diversity conservation of'Gansu province are identified as the followingforest regions: the Lower Reaches of the Bailong River, the Xiaolong Mountain Region, the Mid-upper Reaches of the Bailong River, the Southern Part of Kang County and the Eastern Qilian Mountain Region; the Minimum Reserve Combination and the priority ordination are regarded as: the Lower Reaches of the Bailong River, the Mid-upper Reaches of the Bailong River, the Eastern Qiliang Mountain Region.(2) The critical areas of orchid plants species diversity conservation species diversity conservation of Gansu province are identified as the following forest regions: the Lower Reaches of the Bailong River, the Mid-upper Reaches of the Bailong River, the Xiaolong Mountain Region, the Southern Part of Kang County ; the Minimum Reserve Combination and the priority ordination are regarded as: the Lower Reaches of the Bailong River, the Mid-upper Reaches of the Bailong River and the Eastern Qilian Mountain Region.(3) The critical areas of spermatophytic genera endemic to China species diversity conservation of Gansu province are identified as the following forest regions: the Lower Reaches of the Bailong River, the Mid-upper Reaches of the Bailong River, the Eastern Qilian Mountain Region; the Minimum Reserve Combination and the priority ordination are regarded as: the Lower Reaches of the Bailong River, the Mid-upper Reaches of the Bailong River, the Eastern Qilian Mountain Region.(4)The critical areas of forest community types diversity conservation of Gansu province are identified as the followingforest regions: the Lower Reaches of the Bailong River, the Mid-upper Reaches of the Bailong River, the Southern Part of Kang County and the Eastern Qilian Mountain Region. ; the Minimum Reserve Combination and the priority ordination are regarded as: the Lower Reaches of the Bailong River, the Mid-upper Reaches of the Bailong River, and the Eastern Qilian Mountain Region.The methods of priority area identification for species diversity conservation exploited in this paper succeed to both the method of critical faunas analysis and priority area analysis for conservation, and that it take the biodiversity conservation aim on the population into account maturely, the aim of which is to identify priority area for species diversity scientifically and provide practical technique for the function classification and division of natural reserves in Gansu province.