Tree Species Diversity And Composition In Buddhist And Taoist Temple Gardens

Religious culture is considered to play an important role in biodiversity conservation.Buddhism and Taoism are the main religions in China.As a special product of religious culture,Buddhist and Taoist temples is very important in preserving regional biodiversity.In this study,the role of temples in biodiversity conservation was clarified on the national and regional scales respectively.On the national scale,the list of tree species in 191 Buddhist temples and 69 Taoist temples across China was collected.Then,the tree species composition,geographical distribution pattern,geographical and climatic factors of Buddhist and Taoist tree species distribution in different climatic zones were analyzed.At the regional scale,we investigated the tree species composition and community characteristics of 39 Buddhist temples and 11 Taoist temples in Chongqing metropolis.Temples were divided into religious activity area and non-religious activity area,to analyze the distribution of religious tree species in each temple.At the same time,to compare with temples,tree species composition and community characteristics of artificial green space or forest stand around each temple were investigated.Additionally,the influence of local environmental factors on tree species diversity was analyzed for further understanding biodiversity protection function of temples.The main results are follows:(1)A total of 1059 tree species was collected from Buddhist temples across China,belonging to 116 families and 410 genera.Meanwhile,a total of 324 tree species were collected from Taoist temples across China,belonging to 76 families and 196 genera,and majority of the tree species occurred only in one or two Buddhist temples(773species)or Taoist temples(230 species).Native species was rich in temples,with an average percentage 63.7±1.27%.In addition,104 species were listed in Threatened Species List of China’s Higher Plants.It shows that temples had a high biodiversity conservation value.(2)113 Buddhist tree species were identified in Buddhist temples across China,including 15 original Buddhist trees species and 98 alternative Buddhist tree species;India was the hot spot of the origin of original Buddhist tree species,and the hot spots of the origin of alternative Buddhist tree species were Yunnan,Guangdong etc..The species composition of Buddhist tree species in different climatic zones was quite different,and had a distinct replacement phenomenon.Original Buddhist tree species were gradually replaced by native species(alternative Buddhist tree species)which were similar to the original ones from south to north.In contrast,47 Taoist tree species were identified in Taoist temples across China,and the hot spots of the origin of them were Sichuan and Yunnan etc..And had a widely distribution in China,without distinct replacement phenomenon from south to north.The species composition of religious tree species was mainly restricted by climatic and geographical factors,such as mean annual temperature and precipitation.(3)In Chongqing metropolis,a total of 291 tree species belonging to 79 families and 177 genera of Buddhist temples,155 tree species belonging to 66 families and 123 genera of Taoist temples,100 tree species belonging to 44 families and 85 genera of artificial green spaces,and 159 tree species belonging to 52 families and 103 genera of forest stands were recorded.The number of large DBH individuals and threatened tree species in Buddhist and Taoist temples were both more than those in artificial green spaces or forest stands.(4)In Chongqing metropolis,India was the hot spot of origin of original Buddhist tree species(6 species),while the hot spots of origin of alternative Buddhist tree species(42 species)were Sichuan,Guizhou etc.,The hot spots of origin of Taoist tree species(13 species)were Zhejiang,Sichuan etc..The proportion of Buddhist tree species of Buddhist activity areas was significantly higher than that in forest stands(P < 0.005).However,there was no significant difference in the proportion of Taoist tree species between Taoist temples and artificial green spaces or forest stands.In general,the proportion of Buddhist tree species in Buddhist temples was significantly higher than Taoist tree species in Taoist temples(P < 0.001).(5)In Chongqing metropolis,the Jaccard index of tree species in Buddhist temples was significantly higher than that in Taoist temples(P < 0.001).The Shannon-Wiener index of Buddhist temples was significantly higher than that of the artificial green spaces or forest stands(P < 0.001),and was positively correlated with area of Buddhist temple and age of Buddhist temple.The Shannon-Wiener index of Taoist temple was negatively correlated with urbanization rate.In summary,as plant resource banks,temple gardens were rich in religious,native,threatened and heritage tree species.The origin of religious tree species was closely related to the origin and spread of religion.On the national scale,the distribution of religious tree species was mainly restricted by climatic and geographical factors,such as mean annual temperature and precipitation.In particularly,Buddhist tree species had a replacement phenomenon in different climatic zones,trees with the same Buddhist cultural values were gradually replaced from south to north.But Taoist tree species didn’t have distinct replacement phenomenon in different climatic zones.At the regional scale,the tree species diversity of Buddhist and Taoist temples was mainly affected by temple’s area,temple’s age or urbanization rate.