Abstract
We investigated aquatic plant diversity by conducting the field investigation and collecting the published data in the arid regions of Northwest China. Two hundred and twenty four taxa of vascular aquatic plants representing 64 genera and 34 families occur in this area, 8.48% of which are endemic. Among these, 1 genus and 6 species were new state records and 1 family, 9 genera and 29 species were new area records. Typhaceae, Potamogetonaceae, Juncaginaceae and Haloragaceae were the most frequent families (considering relative frequency of occurrence), whereas Cyperaceae, Potamogetonaceae and Ranuncnlaceae are the most species-rich. The most frequent genera were Typha, Potamogeton, and Triglochin, and the most species-rich were Potamogeton, Eleocharis and Scirpus. The most frequent species are Triglochin palustre, Myriophyllum spicatum, Potamogeton pectinatus and Typha angustifolia. Aquatic plants diversity is distributed unevenly in the region. The maximum species occurs in Dzungarian basin while the least species in Hexi corridor. The aquatic flora in arid zone of China is not distinctive although some endemic species are found, most species are widely distributed. Local aquatic plants diversity can be influenced by many factors such as hydrological alteration, habitat loss, overgrazing, high human population pressure, global climate change, an inappropriate economic development policy. Among them, the largest threat to aquatic plants biodiversity may be habitat loss due to hydrological alteration. In order to conserve the aquatic plants biological resources and biodiversity in this region, some strategies and measures must be suggested including strengthening scientific research and biodiversity education in the local people, balancing economic development and ecological conservation, and enhancing governmental assistance and subsidy to the local residents.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
An S.Q., Cheng X.L., Sun S.C., Wang Y.J. and Li J. 2002. Composition change and vegetation degradation of riparian forests in the Altai plain, NW China. Plant Ecol. 164: 75–84.
Anonymous 1978. Vegetation and Utilization in Xinjiang. Science Press, Beijing.
Anonymous 1985. Nature Geography of China (Pandect). Science Press, Beijing, pp. 363–394.
Anonymous 1989. Aquatic Wildlife and Fishery in Xinjiang. Science Press, Beijing, pp. 95–105.
Aston H.I. 1977. Aquatic Plants of Australia. Melbourne University Press.
Ayyad M.A., Fakhry A.M. and Moustafa A.-R.A. 2000. Plant biodiversity in the Saint Catherine area of the Sinai peninsula, Egypt. Biodiversity Conserv. 9: 265–281.
Barrett S.C.H., Echert C.G. and Husband B.C. 1993. Evolutionary processes in aquatic plant populations. Aquat. Bot. 44: 105–145.
Brock M.A. 1981. Accumulation of praline in a submerged aquatic halophyte Ruppia L. Oecologia 51: 217–219.
Burbidge N.T. 1960. The phytogeography of the Australia region. Aust. J. Bot. 8: 75–211.
Chen Y.D. 1986. Study on Potamogetonaceae of Qinghai Lake. Acta Hydrobiol. Sin. 11: 228–233.
Chen C. 1987. Major types of deserts in China and its economic development. Acta Phytocoecol. Geobot. Sin. 11: 81–91.
Cook C.D.K. 1985. Range extensions of aquatic vascular plant species. J. Aquat. Plant Manage. 23: 1–6.
Cook C.D.K. 1990. Aquatic Plant Book. SPB Academic Publishing.
Cui D.F., Liao W.B. and Zhang H.D. 2000. Analysis of the floristic geographical elements of families on the Xinjiang’s spermatophytic flora. Arid Land Geogr. 23: 326–330.
Dang R.L. and Pan X.L. 2002. Floristic analysis of seed plant families in West-North Desert of China. Acta Bot. Boreali-Occidentalia Sin. 22: 24–32.
Diao Z.S. 1990. Aquatic Weed of China. Chongqing Press, Chongqing, China.
Ding H.W. and Zhang H.S. 2002. Changes of groundwater resources in recent 50 years and their impact on ecological environment in Hexi Corridor. J. Nat. Resour. 17: 691–697.
Dudgeon D. 1992. Endangered ecosystems: a reviews of the conservation status of tropical Asian rivers. Hydrobiologia 248: 167–191.
Engelhardt A.M. and Ritchie M.E. 2001. Effects of macrophyte species richness on wetland ecosystem functioning and services. Nature 411: 687–689.
Fahrig L. 2001. How much habitat is enough? Biol. Conserv. 100: 65–74.
Feng S.Z., Xu D.F. and Lei X.Y. 1989. Nature Geography of China. High education Press, Beijing, pp 245–277.
Goldblatt P. 1997. Floristic diversity in the Cape Flora of South Africa. Biodiversity Conserv. 6: 359–377.
Huang Z.W., Peng M., Chen G.C., Shi P. and Zhou G.Y. 2001. The spatial distribution patterns and dynamics of some wetland dominant plants of the Qinghai Lake. Chin. J. Appl. Environ. Biol. 7: 113–116.
Heegaard E., Birks H.H., Gibson C.E., Smith S.J. and Shaun W.-M. 2001. Species-environmental relationships of aquatic macrophytes in Northern Ireland. Aquat. Bot. 70: 175–223.
Jaccard P. 1901. Distribution de la flore alpine dans le Bassin des Dranes et dans quelques regions voisines. Bull. Soc. Vaudoise Sci. Nat. 37: 241–272.
Jiapear M. 1994. Water resources and ecological environment in arid areas. J. Arid Land Resour. Environ. 8: 8–13.
Jin X.C. 1995. Environment of Lakes in China, Vol. 2, Ocean Press, Beijing: 326–365.
Johnson R.K., Wiederholm T. and Rosenberg D.M. 1993. Freshwater biomonitoring using individual organisms, populations, and species assemblages of benthic macroinvertebrates. In: Rosenberg D.M. and Resh V.H. (eds), Freshwater Biomonitoring and Benthic Macroinvertebrates. Chapman & Hall, London, pp. 40–158.
Kingsford R.T. 1997. Wetlands of the world’s arid zones. In: The first COP of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
Liu S.E. 1934. Outline of phytogeography of West and North China. In: Collected Works of Shen-e Liu. Science Press, Beijing (1985), pp. 25–41.
Lovett J.C., Rudd S., Taplin J. and Frimodt-Møller C. 2000. Patterns of plant diversity in Africa south of the Sahara and their implications for conservation management. Biodiversity Conserv. 9: 37–46.
Ma M. 1999. Important bird areas (IBAs) and globally threatened birds in Xinjiang. China Arid Zone Res. 16: 19–22.
Mckee D., Hatton K., Eaton J.W., Atkinson D., Atherton A., Harvey I. and Moss B. 2002. Effects of simulated climate warming on macrophytes in freshwater microcosm communities. Aquat. Bot. 74: 71–83.
McNeely J., Miller K., Reid W., Mittermeier R. and Werner T. 1990. Conserving the World’s Biological Diversity. IUCN, Gland.
McNeely J.A. 2003. Biodiversity in arid regions: values and perceptions. J. Arid Environ. 54: 61–70.
Myers N., Mittermeier R.A., Mittermerie G.C., da Fonseca G.A.B. and Kent J. 2000. Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403: 853–858.
Negi H.R. and Gadgil M. 2002. Cross-taxon surrogacy of biodiversity in the Indian Garhwal Himalaya. Biol. Conserv. 105: 143–155.
Pan X.L. 1999. Floristic analysis of seed plant genera in Xinjiang. Bull. Bot. Res. 19: 249–258.
Poff N.L., Allan J.D., Bain M.B., Karr J.R., Prestedaard K.L., Richter B.D., Sparks R.E. and Stromberg J.C. 1997. The nature flow regime: a paradigm for river conservation and restoration. Bioscience 47: 769–784.
Qian W.H. and Zhu Y.F. 2001. Climate change in China From 1880 to 1998 and its impact on the environmental condition. Climatic Change 50: 419–444.
Ramdani M., Flower R.J., Elkhiati N., Kraiem M.M., Fathi A.A., Birks H.H. and Patrick S.T. 2001. North African wetland lakes: characterization of nine site included in the CASSARINA project. Aquat. Ecol. 35: 281–302.
SantamarÃa L. 2002. Why are most aquatic plants widely distributed? Dispersal, clonal growth and small-heterogeneity in a stressful environment. Acta Oecol. 23: 137–154.
Saunders D.L., Meeuwig J.J. and Vincent C.J. 2002. Freshwater protected areas: strategies for conservation. Conserv. Biol. 16: 30–41.
Sculthorpe C.D. 1967. The Biology of Aquatic Vascular Plants. Edward Arnold, London.
Sisk T.D., Launer N.M. and Ehrlich P.R. 1994. Identifying extinction threats. BioScience 44: 592–604.
Soran V., Biro J., Moldovan O. and Ardelean A. 2000. Conservation of biodiversity in Romania. Biodiversity Conserv. 9: 1187–1198.
Sørensen L.L. 2004. Composition and diversity of the spider fauna in the canopy of a montane forest in Tanzania. Biodiversity Conserv. 13: 437–452.
Sun X.Z. 1992. Hydrocharitaceae. In: Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae. Science Press, Beijing.
Tang Q.C., Qu Y.G. and Zhou Z.C. 1992. Hydrology and Water Resource Utilization of Arid Region in China. Science Press, Beijing.
Tisdell C.A. 1999. Biodiversity, Conservation, and Sustainable Development: Principles and Practices with Asian Examples. Edward Elgar Publishing, Northampton, Massachusetts.
Thomas W.W. 1999. Conservation and monographic research on the flora of Tropical America. Biodiversity Conserv. 8: 1007–1015.
Van Donk E., Gulati R.D., Iedema A. and Meulemans J.T. 1993. Macrophyte-related shifts in the nitrogen and phosphorus contents of the different trophic levels in a biomanipulated shallow lake. Hydrobiologia 251: 19–26.
Walter H. 1973. Vegetation of Earth in Relation to Climate and the Eco-physiological Conditions. English University Press, London.
Wang G.X., Cheng G.D. and Shen Y.P. 2002. Features of eco-environmental changes in Hexi corridor region in the last 50 years and comprehensive control strategies. J. Nat. Resour. 17:78–86.
Wang X.Q. and Gao Q.Z. 2002. Sustainable development and management of water resources in the Hei River basin of North-west China. Water Resour. Develop. 18: 335–352.
Wetzel R.G. 1983. Limnology, 2nd edn. Saunders College Publishing, Philadelphia, PA.
Wilson M.V. and Shmida A. 1984. Measuring beta diversity with presence-absence data. J. Ecol. 72: 1055–1064.
Wu B. and Ci L.J. 2002. Landscape change and desertification development in the Mu Us Sandland, Northern China. J. Arid Environ. 50: 429–444.
Wu Y.H. 1997. Index Florae Qinghaiensis. Qinghai People’s Publishing House, Qinghai, China.
Wu Z.Y. 1980. The Vegetation of China. Science Press, Beijing.
Yan S.Z. 1983. Pictorial Handbook of Higher Water Plant of China. Science Press, Beijing.
Yang X. and Xu M. 2003. Biodiversity conservation in Changbai Mountain Biosphere Reserve, northeastern China: status, problem, and strategy. Biodiversity Conserv. 12: 883–903.
Yilmaz K.T. 1998. Ecological diversity of the Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey and its conservation. Biodiversity Conserv. 7: 87–96.
Zhang Z.K. and Yang D.Y. 2001. Lake water resources-environmental problems and its measures in the arid regions of Northwest China. J. Arid Land Resour. Environ. 15: 7–10.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2006 Springer
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Li, Z., Yu, D., Xiong, W., Wang, D., Tu, M. (2006). Aquatic plants diversity in arid zones of Northwest China: patterns, threats and conservation. In: Hawksworth, D.L., Bull, A.T. (eds) Marine, Freshwater, and Wetlands Biodiversity Conservation. Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5734-2_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5734-2_5
Received:
Accepted:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-5733-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-5734-2
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)