Correlation between Vegetation Structure and Species Diversity in Traditional Villages in Karst Topographic Regions of the Zunyi City, China

Abstract

Studying the relationship between vegetation structure and diversity is important in an area having karst topography and unique traditional customs. We selected a total of six traditional villages in Zunyi City, China, to collect vegetation data. Additionally, using one-way ANOVA and the Pearson correlation coefficient analytic method to analyze, the results showed that, overall, plant communities were mostly regularly distributed. The overall differentiation degree was low aggregation, intensity, and the extreme intensity mixed state. Overall, competitive pressure, growth vigor and stability were better than the natural forest. The community stability index at lower altitude was significantly higher than that at higher altitude. The recorded plant communities in the living space were typically aggregated, the plant communities were randomly distributed in the production space, and the plant communities were uniformly distributed in the ecological space. In general, the diversity indexes, except the Jh index, were the highest in the herb layer; the second was in the shrub layer and the lowest was in the tree layer. Species diversity at the middle altitude was higher than that at low and high altitudes (except for the shrub at a high altitude of 1100–1160 m). The overall plant species diversity was highest in the living space, second highest in the ecological space and lowest in the production space. On the whole, there was a significant correlation between the spatial structure of plant communities and the species diversity of plant communities at different altitudes, and in PLE spaces. The main objective of this study was to reveal the plant community structure, species diversity, and their relationship under the dual effects of national traditional culture and karst landform. Additionally, we sought to provide theoretical guidance for the construction of plant community protection and biodiversity conservation in traditional villages in karst areas.