Plant Community Survey and Ecological Protection of Dajiuhu Wetlands in Shennongjia Area

Dajiuhu wetlands are rare in the central area of subtropical alpine. Due to the enhancement of modern human activities, the ecological environment of the wetlands is under destruction and the research on the natural conservation is urgent. Based on the detailed survey on the 47 representative plots, this paper reports the detailed survey and research on the plant species composition and community characteristics of Dajiuhu wetlands after the implementation of "Dajiuhu wetland protection and ecological restoration project". Dajiuhu wetlands had 98 species of higher vascular plants within 46 families and 83 genera in 2012. Detailed analysis on the community dominant species composition and habitat characteristics demonstrated that Dajiuhu wetlands had that the current dominant plant species in the Dajiuhu wetlands were Carex argyi, Sanguisorba officinalis, Juncus effusus, Festuca rubra and Sphagnum palustre, most of which belonged to the main part of the species composition of meadow; compared with that in 2000, the number of plant species in the Dajiuhu wetlands had increased 74 species, most of which were from Gramineae, Rosaceae, Asteraceae, Polygonaceae, Leguminosae etc.; according to the features of plant species composition and soils, 6 types were obtained including hygrophyte peat bogs, hygrophyte herbaceous marshes, degraded semi-hygrophyte marshes, hygrophyte- mesophyte meadow, moderate-xeric meadow, and xeric meadow; the policy of returning farmland to grassland and wetland has produced great roles on the eco-restoration of peat bog ecosystem and ecological damage in the study area has been basically under control, but at the same time the increasing of artificial lakes and xeric meadow area was adverse to the wetland ecological restoration.