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Arid Land Geography ›› 2024, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (11): 1841-1851.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2024.133

• The Third Xinjiang Scientific Expedition • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Vegetation community diversity and spatial distribution pattern in Ganjiahu Saxoul National Nature Reserve, Xinjiang

WANG Anqi1(), ZHANG Yu1, LIU Jiawei1, ZHAO Wei2, LIU Xinyu2, LI Kai1()   

  1. 1. School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
    2. Jinghe Branch of Ganjiahu Saxoul National Nature Reserve Administration, Jinghe 833300, Xinjiang, China
  • Received:2024-03-01 Revised:2024-06-22 Online:2024-11-25 Published:2024-12-03
  • Contact: LI Kai E-mail:hanguang2021@126.com;jiujiu@bjfu.edu.cn

Abstract:

The Ganjiahu Saxoul National Nature Reserve in Xinjiang, China, is situated in a typical oasis-desert transition zone. Clearly identifying the main vegetation types and their distribution within the reserve is essential for biodiversity protection and restoration. Based on remote sensing images from 2022, a field survey was conducted in August 2023. Vegetation samples from the Ganjiahu Saxoul National Nature Reserve were classified using the two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) method. Alpha diversity indices of each vegetation type were calculated, followed by the development of a random forest model to evaluate and visualize the clustering results of vegetation quadrats. The results are as follows: (1) In the Ganjiahu Saxoul National Nature Reserve, the dominant herbaceous plants are primarily Salsola spp., while the principal shrubs include Haloxylon ammodendron, Suaeda spp., Reaumuria songarica, and Ceratocarpus arenarius. (2) Sixty-two vegetation sample plots were categorized into 14 types in TWINSPAN. Among these, the Ass. Salsola spp.+Suaeda spp. (G5) covered the largest area and exhibited the highest vegetation diversity. The Ass. Salsola spp. + Ceratocarpus arenarius (G7) showed both high species diversity and extensive coverage. The G14 type represented a single vegetation community with the lowest Shannon-Wiener and Simpson’s diversity indices and had a Pielou’s evenness index of 1, predominantly comprising farmland and highly saline bare land in the Ganjiahu Saxoul National Nature Reserve. (3) The random forest model achieved an overall accuracy of 87.10%, with a Kappa coefficient of 0.8553, and demonstrated relatively low commission and omission errors. (4) H. ammodendron and H. persicum are mainly distributed in the core area in the northwest and the buffer zone extending from the central to southern parts of the Ganjiahu Saxoul National Nature Reserve. These findings provide a foundation for future precise management of the Ganjiahu Saxoul National Nature Reserve.

Key words: vegetation types, spatial distribution, two-way indicator species analysis method, species diversity, random forest