Studies On The Relations Between Habitat Parameters And The Morphological Differentiation As Well As Effective Medicine Components Of The Wild Coptis Chinensis Franch. In Chongqing

Coptis cbinensis Franch., a medicinal plant of Ranunculaceae, is regarded as one of the national protected plants in China. It mostly distributes in Chongqing and Hubei. With the helps of statistical software named SPSS, we studied the morphological differentiation of 67 individuals from 7 populations. Then we further studied the relations between morphological differentiation and the habitat parameters. Using the technique of HPLC, we determined the Berberine contents in these wild populations of this species, and the elementary environmental factors which can affect the Berberine contents are found out by researching the relationship between the Berberine contents and habitat parameters. Based on such investigation, we inferred the principium why Coptis cbinensis Franch. is endangered and how to carry out the protection procedures. We hope that this study can provide scientific bases for the wild resource protection and high productive plantation of this medicinal plant. The result reveals as the follows:Vegetative organs of this species are more easily affected by the environmental factors, which implies a sound morphological plasticity of this species. On the contrary, the variability of the reproductive organs are observably less than vegetative organs. Totally 70.37% of differentiation among the studied morphological characters is notably significant, 18.52% is significant, and 11.11% (most are fertile characters) is not significant. The morphological differentiation within population is quite obvious, which is identical with the result of the variance analysis. The morphological differentiation among the studied wild populations is correlated with the spatial isolation degree of these populations and indicates a stronger correlation between morphological differentiation and the habitat parameters. The gene flow among such spatially isolated populations is very low. The same conclusion can be drawn from the particial correlation analysis between morphological differentiation and environmental factors.Every environmental factor can affect the morphological characters differently. Maybe a single factor is the most important factor to inference one particular morphological character, but not to all the morphological characters. The soil water content and and total Kalicum content are the most important factors to affect the morphological differentiation of Coptis cbinensis Franch., while soil total Nitrogen, Phosphate, slope degree and light intensity play certain role in affecting in morphological differentiation. Soil factor may be one of the most important factors caused the endangering of the species.Light intensity is the most important factor to inference the Berberine content accumulation in Coptis cbinensis. Berberine is the dominate medicinal component of this species, it's necessary to overshadow Coptis cbinensis Franch. to enhance the Berberine content. Total Kalium, soil organic matter, Nitrogen and Phosphate also play certain roles in accumulating Berberine. So nutritional conditions, for instance, appropriate fertilization, are involved to enhance the Berberine content. In addition, soil water content and slope are also very important factors for Berberine accumulation, which suggests the plantation of this species in shaded and moisture habitats.Based on the research, the fragmentary habitats brought by the excessive exploitation by local inhabitants lead to the endangering of wild Coptis cbinensis. The wild populations become smaller and smaller and it's possible to restrict the gene flow within or among the wild populations. That means the genetic diversity is limited ultimately. So, local favorable habitat protection must be taken for protection of wild Coptis cbinensis and the excessive exploitation will be forbidden. Additionally, ex situs conservation procedures by replanting to other favorable habitats as well as germ plasm resource protection in laboratory are certainly needed.