The effect of slope aspect on vegetation attributes in a mountainous dry valley, Southwest China.

ABSTRACT: Slope aspect plays a critical role in influencing vegetation pattern in semiarid area. The dry valleys of the Hengduan Mountains Region, southwestern China, are striking geographical landscape, suffering from severe ecological degradation. Here, we comprehensively investigated how slope aspect affects vegetation attributes in one of these valleys- the dry valley in the upper reaches of Min River. Three sites were selected along the valley and we quantitively examined the vegetation difference between slope aspects at the whole valley scale and each site level. We found significant vegetation differences between slope aspects in species composition, vegetative structure, and biodiversity pattern, which were in accordance with the observed significant difference in soil nutrient. Generally,

SUBMITTER: Yang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7536199 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature