Relationship between soil physical and chemical properties and plant diversity━productivity of upland meadow in Kanas Scenic Area

Plant diversity, productivity, soil physical and chemical properties were examined using the different distance quadrats along tourism activities gradients in upland meadow of Kanas Scenic Area. The relationships among soil physical and chemical properties, diversity indexes and biomass of species, functional group and community were analyzed by partial correlation and curve estimation analysis. The results showed that the number of genera and species significantly decreased if close to tourist attractions. And the androphile gradually became dominant species of upland meadow, but the original dominant species gradually became companion species or disappeared. The development of perennial sedges, legumes and rhizome grasses were restrained and annuals and biennials developed rapidly with increasing tourism activities. And the diversity indexes and biomass of species, functional group and community gradually decreased. The changes of community composition and productivity resulted in the simplicity of community structure and community function. The effect of tourism activities may be reduced with the increasing of plant diversity scale. In the 0-30 cm layers of soils containing high contents of soil water and organic matter, medium levels of soil alkali hydrolyzable nitrogen and available phosphorus, with decreases in soil bulk density, soil compaction and available potassium, the plant diversity and productivity of the three scales all increased. If the changes of soil properties would be converse, the development of original dominant species and functional groups was restrained and annuals and biennials developed rapidly while community biomass and quality decreased. Therefore, the factors of tourism and soil properties all affected distribution pattern of plant diversity and levels of productivity.