A comparison of the species diversity of Trollius chinensis community in different habitats

Abstract: The Shannonwiener index, richness index, Pielou evenness index, Jaccard index, and Sorenson index were used to investigate communities of Trollius chinensis grown in five different habitats in Chengde of Hebei Province. The results showed that 182 plants species in 93 genera of 36 families were found in five different habitats; including forest open space, wetlands, valleys, slope lands and understory. There were the highest number of species in the forest open space and the lowest number in the understory. The hygrophytes were more than the xerophytes in the different habitats reflecting the hygrophilous characteristics of T.chinensis communities. The ShannonWiener index of different habitats showed forest open spacevalleywetlandslope landunderstory. The richness index of different habitats from large to small manifested as forest open spacewetlandvalleyslope landunderstory. The order of evenness index of different habitats was valleyforest open spaceslope landwetlandunderstory. The results from the comparison of community similarity showed that the difference between wetland and forest open space was the smallest; the difference between understory and valley was the biggest. In addition, the results of ANOVA of community diversity were more consistent with community similarity analysis. Soil moisture and light are the main factors affecting species diversity and community similarity of the T.chinensis community.