Karren Habitat as the Key in Influencing Plant Distribution and Species Diversity in Shilin Geopark, Southwest China

Abstract

Karst rocky desertification (KRD) is one of the biggest challenges in the karst ecological restoration of Southwest China, and a thorough understanding of the plant community characteristics in various karren habitats provides a basis for mitigating KRD and restoring the degraded ecosystem. To improve our knowledge of the detailed characteristics and impact mechanisms of karren habitats on the species distribution and species diversity patterns of woody and herbaceous plants to benefit sustainable management and planting design for revegetation establishment in the karst region, a field investigation was carried out in the natural restoration vegetation of Shilin Geopark. The results indicated that karren habitats apparently determine the species diversity and composition. At the arbor layer, the habitat with the highest α diversity was solution corridor (SC), and at the shrub layer, grikes (GR) were the karren habitats with the most diverse communities. At the herb layer, solution rock debris (SRD) showed the highest richness of herbaceous species. The karren habitat features and topographic factors significantly influence plant α diversity and distribution. Soil area (SA) and canopy density (CD) were the dominant factors influencing plant diversity at the arbor, shrub and herb layers, soil thickness (ST) was significantly effective at the arbor and herb layers. Karren habitat height (KHH), litter thickness (LT), and slope gradient (SG) were significantly influential at the herb layer. The impacts of the karren habitat width (KHW), slope aspect (SAS), and SG on woody species distribution were significant. Knowledge obtained from this study will be helpful guidance for future sustainable restored vegetation design and management with high biodiversity and regional characteristics in the karst area of Southwest China and other fragile karst ecosystems in the world.

Tree Ferns of C. contaminans and C. orientalis from Biosite Erek-erek Geoforest of Ijen Geopark, Banyuwangi

“…Dalam hal penilaian harga jasa ekonomi sebagai bagian dari tujuan ekowisata dan fungsi ekologi, data diversitas flora sangat dibutuhkan [16]. Lebih lanjut data keragaman flora menjadi sumber rujukan dalam pengelolaan vegetasi secara berkelanjutan, maupun dalam upaya restorasi jika terjadi kerusakan [17].…”

Are degraded karst tiankengs coupled with microclimatic underground forests the refugia of surface flora? Evidence from China’s Yunnan

“…Furthermore, little association between degraded karst tiankeng and species composition has been made in independent studies of species diversity (Jian et al, 2018;Zhang et al, 2019). Relevant studies on environmentplant relationships have shown that cryptic habitats in karst landscapes have high species diversity, and new taxa have been identified (Parmentier and Hardy, 2009;Li et al, 2020;Peng et al, 2020;Liu et al, 2021;Ren et al, 2021). However, little is known about how the flora composition and diversity varies and what effects that degraded karst tiankengs inserted in a karst forest matrix may exert on these plant communities.…”

The COVID‐19 pandemic changes citizens' visual aesthetic perceptions and attitudes toward restored landscape in the karst area in China

“…Karst landscapes easily degraded into karst rocky desertification (KRD) landscapes because of intensive unreasonable human activities and the vulnerable carbonate environment in southwestern China (Li et al 2020a(Li et al , 2020b. In recent decades, Chinese governments have initiated several ecological restoration projects, including the Natural Protection Project and the Karst Rocky Desertification Restoration Project (Tong et al 2018;Wang et al 2019), which aim not only to restore the ecological function, but also to restore its aesthetic values (Li et al 2020a(Li et al , 2020b. Tong et al (2018) presented the remarkable ecological benefits of restoration projects in karst area, yet visual aesthetic consequences of the restored landscape, surprisingly, have received less attention (Dou et al 2019).…”

“…This unique geomorphological environment features contiguous distribution of bare and shallow carbonate rock, which determines the high fragility of the karst ecosystem, especially in the context of climate change (Yang et al 2011;Xu et al 2013). Karst landscapes easily degraded into karst rocky desertification (KRD) landscapes because of intensive unreasonable human activities and the vulnerable carbonate environment in southwestern China (Li et al 2020a(Li et al , 2020b. In recent decades, Chinese governments have initiated several ecological restoration projects, including the Natural Protection Project and the Karst Rocky Desertification Restoration Project (Tong et al 2018;Wang et al 2019), which aim not only to restore the ecological function, but also to restore its aesthetic values (Li et al 2020a(Li et al , 2020b.…”