Assessing Community Distribution Characteristics and Succession Stages on Mountainous Areas Hosting Coming Winter Olympics Games

Abstract

BackgroundThe Yin Mountains located in China within the Chongli Country will be the core area of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. It is necessary to survey the key factors limiting the vegetation communities’ development so as to guide the vegetation restoration after major events in this region.MethodsTwo-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) and market basket analysis (MBA) were used to classify the vegetation communities. Plant community and relationships among environmental variables were assessed through the detrended correspondence (DCA) and canonical correspondence (CCA) analyses.ResultsSoil moisture and organic matter were found the main factors limiting the development of shrub and herb communities. The distribution of different forest communities was mainly affected by geomorphological factors. In middle and high altitude areas, apart of arbor and shrub communities generally showed the process of transformation from the pioneer community to transitional community in the competition.ConclusionWe concluded that providing the basis to understand the environmental factors that restrict the development of vegetation communities in the eastern Yin Mountains and its potential changes after human impacts, in this case, the Winter Olympic Games, could help to more efficient restoration plans.