Abstract
Implementing conservation actions on-the-ground is not a straightforward process, especially when faced with high scientific uncertainty due to limited available information. This is especially acute in regions of the world that harbor many unique species that have not been well studied, such as the alpine zone of the Hengduan Mountains of Northwest Yunnan (NWY), a global biodiversity hotspot and site of The Nature Conservancy’s Yunnan Great Rivers Project. We conducted a quantitative, but rapid regional-level assessment of the alpine flora across NWY to provide a broad-based understanding of local and regional patterns of the alpine flora, the first large-scale analysis of alpine biodiversity patterns in this region. Multivariate analyses were used to classify the major plant community types and link community patterns to habitat variables. Our analysis indicated that most species had small distributions and/or small population sizes. Strong patterns emerged with higher diversity in the more northern mountains, but beta diversity was high, averaging only 10% among sites. The ordinations indicated that elevation and geographic location were the dominant environ-mental gradients underlying the differences in the species composition among communities. The high beta diversity across the alpine of these mountains implies that conservation strategies ultimately will require the protection of large numbers of species over a large geographical area. However, prioritization should be given to areas where potential payoffs are greatest. Sites with high species richness also have a greater number of endemic species, and, by focusing efforts on these sites, conservation investments would be maximized by protecting the greatest number of unique species.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baker, B., Moseley, R. 2007. Changes in the Hengduan Mountains: Advancing treeline and retreating glaciers. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research 39: 200–209.
Baker, B., Bachelet, D., Daly, C., Jian, M., Moseley, R., Xuezheng, S., Shlisky, A., Jihua, S. 2005. (http://conserveonline.org/docs/2006/02/Baker_et_al_2005_GLOCHAMORE.pdf)
Bandyopadhyay, J. 1992. The Himalaya: Prospects for and constraints on sustainable development. In: Stone, P.B. The State of the World’s Mountains (ed.), Pp. 93–126. Zed Books Ltd., London and New Jersey.
Barthlott, W., Lauer, W., Placke, A. 1996. Global distribution of species diversity in vascular plants: towards a world map of phytodiversity. Erdkunde 50: 317–327.
Boufford, D., Dijk, P. 1999. South-central China. In: Mettermeier, R.A., Myers, N., Mittermeier, C.G. (eds.) Hotspots: Earth’s Biologically richest and most endangered terrestrial ecoregions, Cemex, Mexico City, Pp. 339–350
Buntaine, M.T., Mullen, R.B., Lassoie, J.P. 2006. Human use and conservation planning in alpine areas of northwestern Yunnan, China. Environment, Development and Sustainability, Published Online: 21 Feb. 2006. (http://www.springerlink.com/content/1573-2975/?k=buntaine)
Clarke, K.R. 1993. Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure. Australian Journal of Ecology 18: 117–143.
Colwell, R.K. 2005. EstimateS: Statistical estimation of species richness and shared species from samples. Version 7.5. User’s Guide and application published at: http://purl.oclc.org/estimates.
CI. 2006. Conservation International’s Biodiversity Hotspots. http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots/china
Deng, M., Zhou, Z.K. 2004. Seed plant diversity on screes from northwest Yunnan. Acta Botanica Yunnanica 26: 23–34.
Erschbamer, B., Virtanen, R., Nagy, L. 2003. The impacts of vertebrate grazers on vegetation in European high mountains. In: Nagy L, Grabherr G, Körner Ch, Thompson, D.B.A. (ed.) Alpine Biodiversity in Europe, Berlin, Springer-Verlag, Pp. 377–396.
Ferrier, S., Pressey, R.L., Barrett, T.W. 2000. A new predictor of the irreplaceability. of areas for achieving a conservation goal, its applicability to real-world planning, and a research agenda for further refinement. Biological Conservation 93: 303–325.
Ge, X.J., Zhang, L.B., Yuan, Y.M., Hao, G., Chiang, T.Y. 2005. Strong genetic differentiation of the East-Himalayan Megacodon stylophorus (Gentianaceae) detected by inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR). Biodiversity and Conservation 14: 849–861.
Groves, C.R., Jensen, D.B., Valutis, L.L., Redford, K.H., Shaffer, M.L., Scott, J.M., Baumgartner, J.V., Higgins, J.V., Beck, M.W., Anderson, M.G. 2000. Planning for biodiversity conservation: Putting conservation science into practice. Bioscience 52:499–512.
Hobohm, C. 2003. Characterization and ranking of biodiversity hotspots: centres of species richness and endemism. Biodiversity and Conservation 12: 279–287.
Klotzi, F. 1997. Biodiversity and vegetation belts in tropical and subtropical mountains. In: Messerli, B., Ives, J.D. (eds.) Mountains of the World: a Global Priority, Parthenon Publishing Group, New York. Pp. 232–235.
Körner, Ch. 2003. Alpine Plant Life. Functional Plant Ecology of High Mountain ecosystems, Vol 2E, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg.
Kruskal, J.B. 1964. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling: a numerical method. Psychometrika 29:1–27.
Ma, C.L., Moseley, R.K., Chen, W.Y., Zhou, Z.K. 2007. Plant diversity and priority conservation areas of Northwestern Yunnan, China. Biodiversity and Conservation 16: 757–774.
Mather, P.M. 1976. Computational methods of multivariate analysis in physical geography. J. Wiley & Sons, London. 532 Pp.
McCune, B., Grace, J.B. 2002. Analysis of Ecological Communities. MjM Software Design, Gleneden Beach, Oregon, USA.
McCune, B., Mefford, M.J. 1999. PC-ORD. Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data. MjM Software Design, Gleneden Beach, Oregon, USA.
McNab, W.H. 1989. Terrain shape index: quantifying effect of minor landforms on tree height. Forest Science 35: 91–104.
Meihe, G. 1997. Alpine vegetation types of the central Himalaya. In: Wiegolaski, F.E. (ed.) Ecosystems of the World 3. Polar and Alpine Tundra. Amsterdam. Pp 161–184.
Miller, D.J. 2000. Impacts of grazing in Himalayan and Tibetan Plateau rangelands. Northern Plains Associates (http://www.mtnforum.org)
Mittermeier, R., Meyers, N., Mittermeier, N., Gil, P., Ford, H. 1999. Hot spots: Earth’s biologically richest and most endangered terrestrial ecoregions. Cemex, Conservation Int., Mexico City.
Mohamed-Saleem, M.A., Woldu, Z. 2002. Land use and biodiversity in the upland pastures in Ethiopia. In: Körner, Ch., Spehn, E.M. (eds.) Mountain Biodiversity: A Global Assessment, Boca Raton, Parthenon Publishing Group, Pp. 277–282.
Myers, N., Mittermeier, R.A., Mittermeier, C.G., da Fonseca, G.A.B., Kent, J. 2000. Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403: 853–858.
Olson, D.M., Dinerstein, E. 1998. The Global 200: a representation approach to conserving Earth’s most biologically valuable ecoregions. Conservation Biology 12:502–515.
OSU-SCAS. 2006. The Climate Source, Inc. Oregon State University. (http://www.climatesource.com/cn/fact_sheets/yunnanppt_xl.jpg)
Pressey, R.L., Johnson, I.R., Wilson, P.D. 1994. Shades of irreplaceability: towards a measure of the contribution of sites to a reservation goal. Biodiversity and Conservation 3: 242–262.
Salick, J., Anderson, J.D., Woo, J., Sherman, R.E., Cili, N., Yin, X.Z., Na, A., Sonam, Dorje. 2004. Tibetan ethnobotany and gradient analysis: Menri (Medicine Mountains), Eastern Himalayas. In The Millenium Ecosystem Assessment. Bridging Scales and Epistemologies: Linking Local Knowledge and Global Science in Multi-Scale Assessments. Alexandria, Egypt. (http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/about.Meetings.bridging.proceedings.aspx#2j)
TNC. 2006. The Nature Conservancy in China. (http://www.nature.org/wherewework/asiapacific/china/strategies)
Vane-Wright, R.I. 1996. Identifying priorities for the conservation of biodiversity: systematic biological criteria within a socio-political framework. In: Gaston, K.J. (ed.) Biodiversity: A Biology of Numbers and Difference, Blackwell, Oxford Pp. 309–344.
Xu, G., Kruse, C. 2003. Economic impact of tourism in China. In: Lew, A.A., Yu, L., Ap, J., Zhang, G.R. (eds.) Tourism in China, New York, Haworth Hospitality Press, Pp. 83–102.
Xu, J., Wilkes, A. 2003. Biodiversity impact analysis in northwest Yunnan, southwest China. Biodiversity and Conservation 13: 959–983.
Xu, J., Fox, J., Lu, X., Podger, N., Leisz, S., Ai, X. 1999. Effects of Swidden Cultivation, State Policies, and Customary Institutions on Land Cover in a Hani Village, Yunnan, China. Mountain Research and Development 19(2):123–132.
YGRPPT (Yunnan Great Rivers Project Planning Team). 2002. Yunnan Great Rivers Project: Northwestern Yunnan Ecoregional Conservation Assessment, Kunming, China, The Nature Conservancy.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sherman, R., Mullen, R., Li, H. et al. Alpine ecosystems of northwest Yunnan, China: an initial assessment for conservation. J. Mt. Sci. 4, 181–192 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-007-0181-6
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-007-0181-6