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Effects of Tourism and Topography on Vegetation Diversity in the Subalpine Meadows of the Dongling Mountains of Beijing, China

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Abstract

Subalpine meadows in the Dongling Mountains (located at E115º26′-115º40′, N40º00′-40º05′) of Beijing, China are important for tourism and the provision of ecosystem services. However, because of poor management serious degradation has occurred on these subalpine meadows. The aim of this paper is to present a quantitative analysis of effects of tourism disturbance and topography on the status and diversity of montane meadow communities and to provide direction for improved management. Sixty quadrats of 2 × 2 m2 along 10 transects were set up to collect data on site characteristics and vegetation status. The relationships between community composition and structure, species diversity, and tourism disturbance and topographic variables were analyzed by multivariate methods (TWINSPAN and CCA). The results showed that eight meadow communities were identified by TWINSPAN. Most of them were seriously degraded. The first CCA axis identified an elevation and tourism disturbance intensity gradient, which illustrated that tourism disturbance and elevation were most important factors influencing meadow types, composition and structure. Some resistant species and response species to tourism disturbance were identified and can be used as indicator species of tourism disturbance. Species richness, heterogeneity and evenness were closely related to tourism disturbance and elevation. It is concluded that tourism disturbance must be controlled to enable grassland rehabilitation to occur in the meadows. Measures of effective management of the meadows were discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No: 31170494, 30870399). We thank anonymous reviewers and Dr. B. Collins for their constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript. We also thank Dr. E. B. Nie, Miss L.H. Fan for their assistant in field work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Jin-Tun Zhang & ChunLing Xiang

  2. Institute of Loess Plateau, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, 030006, China

    Min Li

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  1. Jin-Tun Zhang
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  2. ChunLing Xiang
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  3. Min Li
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Correspondence to Jin-Tun Zhang.

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Zhang, JT., Xiang, C. & Li, M. Effects of Tourism and Topography on Vegetation Diversity in the Subalpine Meadows of the Dongling Mountains of Beijing, China. Environmental Management 49, 403–411 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-011-9786-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-011-9786-1

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