Download Introduction

stxb201201080035
Process of Biodiversity Research of Karst Areas in China
LI Chen, XIONG Kangning, WU Guangmei
(1. Institute of South China Karst, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang City, Guizhou Province 550001, China;
2. The State Key Laboratory Incubation Base for Karst Mountain Ecology Environment of Guizhou Province,
Guiyang City, Guizhou Province 550001, China)
Abstract: Because the karst environment is very sensitive to disturbance, once a strong disturbance occurs in a
karst ecosystem it will undergo reverse succession, and both its recovery and restoration might be difficult. So,
biodiversity is an important factor in maintaining existing karst landscapes and also provides the basis for recovery
of degraded karst ecosystems. Karst restoration has become the core issue in research related to environmental
changes in karst areas. With the implementation of the World Heritage List and Rocky Desertification Project in
recent years, the number of related research papers has shown rapid growth and karst has become one of the
important topics of new research. This paper uses the CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) and
Springer databases as well as the Taylor & Francis UK database as data sources; the result shows: 1) the quantity
of karst related journal articles is on the rise, exceeding 20 articles per year since 2008; 2) karst related journal
articles focus on two major categories, ecology (51) and environmental engineering (41); 3) the literature mainly
comprises jointly produced documents, and most are from the core research team of Wang Kelin, Su Weici, Xiong
Kangning. Based on statistical results, we comprehensively review two theses and 89 academic papers and use
combined data from the internet and correlation analysis to give a scientific overview of recent literature. The
result can be seen in three ways. First, 39 papers have been published on mechanisms that maintain biodiversity >
20 papers on the characteristics of diversity > 20 papers on monitoring and evaluation of diversity > 13 papers on
karst restoration and reconstruction of diversity. Second, the research concentrated on 3 aspects, namely, 16 papers
on the characteristics of native biodiversity, 17 on biological mechanisms that maintain biodiversity, and 15 on
non-biological mechanisms for maintaining biodiversity. Third, for comparing natural karst habitats with degraded
habitat in two contrasting ecological landscapes, the paper elaborates on dynamic biodiversity research in karst
areas from different perspectives and different fields and scientifically analyses the correlations of literature from
these different perspectives. This paper is based on a brief summary of research related to biodiversity in karst
regions, as well as research related to the perspectives of specific geological and geomorphological conditions of
karst regions and clarifies the basic condition of biological diversity in karst areas. Four problem areas are
identified that need to be the subject of future studies. First, research related to genetics, species and ecosystem
research needs to be integrated and strengthened and further study of mechanisms related to genetic variation,
species in karst area flora and changes within karst ecosystems is needed. Second, research on the mechanisms
involved in habitat maintenance serves as the basis of the establishment of regional diversity surveys. On this basis,
research related to maintaining diversity in light of economic development should be added with discussions on
issues such as population variation and the ability of populations to evolve as well as changes in regional
biodiversity on both the macro and micro levels. Third, species selection during habitat reconstruction is very
subjective. If we want to balance economic development with ecological benefits, we need to study how we can
coordinate the relationships among species in the reconstruction area, and maintain stable regional biodiversity.
Last, designing a monitoring system is an important basis for status surveys and prediction of future conditions.
Monitoring might provide scientific data to help maintain biological diversity in karst areas.

基金项目：国家十二五科技支撑计划重大课题“喀斯特高原峡谷石漠化综合治理技术与示范”(2011BAC09B01)
通讯作者:[email protected]，电话：0851-6690478
李晨（1985-），男，汉，贵州六盘水人，硕士，研究方向为喀斯特地貌与洞穴，E-mail：[email protected]，电话：18984422358。
收稿日期： 接受日期：
Key Words: Biodiversity, Karst, Research Analysis
Introduction
Biodiversity in karst areas has many-sided positive and negative effects under the natural
environment and human activities due to its unique eco-environment. Karst ecosystem includes
two dependent subsystems-ground and cave ecosystems. Climax community of ground ecosystem
is evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forests and the animal distribution is special.
Because its eco-environmental sensitivity is so high that once a strong artificial disturbance occurs,
the eco-environmental succession will reverse and it is difficult to rehabilitate and rebuild the
ecosystems. Biodiversity, an important factor in maintaining existing karst ecological landscape, is
a basis for rehabilitating degraded ecosystems. With the application of World Natural Heritage and
implementation of rehabilitation for karst rocky desertification, karst area has become a research
hotspot. Biodiversity is a core issue in researches related to biodiversity both in conservation and
rebuilding zones for it’s a key factor for the region’s ecological succession.
We firstly compared ecosystem’s changes in last decade under different karst geological
environments. With theoretical basis of disturbance and restoration ecologies, biodiversity’s
maintaining and degrading mechanisms are revealed from relation of disturbance and degradation
for the purpose of searching dominant factors for keeping ecosystems healthy and promoting
rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems.
We searched in CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), Springer database and Taylor &
Francis Database for related literatures with research subject of karst biodiversity and analysis
object of the literature contents. Using Hierarchical Clustering Analysis, relation of the literatures
is analyzed and karst biodiversity researches of China are systematically reviewed. With finding of
these literatures, we hope researches on maintaining and rebuilding biodiversity in karst areas
would move forward.
1. Data Acquisition of Literatures and Systematical Analysis
1.1 Data Acquisition of Literatures
There are three fundamental steps to acquire the literature data. The first step is taking CNKI
Database, Springer Database and Taylor & Francis Database as sources to retrieve related
literatures by searching under the key word “karst”, and the time range is from 2002 to 2011. The
second step is searching under key words “biodiversity, genetic diversity, species diversity,
ecosystem diversity, landscape diversity”, and also with time range from 2002 to 2011. Based on
the two steps, we acquired 1 doctoral dissertation, 11 master theses, and 167 periodical literatures
of which the publicaition time is before January 10th, 2011. The final step is using NoteExpress to
further analyze the literatures and acquired related literatures we need, including 1 doctoral
dissertation, 11 master theses and 126 periodical literatures in Chinese and 20 periodicals
literatures in English.
1.2 Statistical Analysis on Literatures
1.2.1 Analysis on Publication Years
Following results can be got through analyzing annual change of number of published periodical
papers (Figure 1): a) the average number of published papers per year is 15.9 during the 10 years.
b) there are only 5 related papers published in 2002. However, the number has got up to 10 to 20
per year from 2003 to 2007. c) from 2008, the number has exceeded 20. The results show that
there is an increasing tendency in number of karst biodiversity papers and core journals in which
the papers published. Therefore, we can draw a conclusion that with implementation of projects of
application for world natural heritage and rehabilitation for karst rocky desertification, scholars
has realized that karst biodiversity is significant for reflecting effects of ecological construction in
karst areas.
30
Number
25
the number of
published periodical
articles
20
15
10
Core journals were
identificated
5
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
0
Year
Figure 1 Annual Change of the Number of Biodiversity Literatures
1.2.2 Analysis on Publication Journals
It can be found from the Distribution of Journal Types of Biodiversity Papers (Figure 2) that
related papers are mainly published in periodicals of ecology, environmental engineering, geology
and agriculture and university journals, of which the number of papers accounts 84% of the total.
There are 66 journal types which published the 167 papers retrieved in this study, including 54
Chinese Journals and 12 foreign journals. And the top five journals are Carsologica Sinica (10
papers), Journal of Guizhou Normal University (Natural Science Edition) (5 papers), Earth and
Environment (5 papers), Chinese Journal of Ecology (5 papers), and Acta Ecologica Sinica (4
papers), of which the number of papers accounts about 17% of the total.
Figure 2 Distribution of Journal Types of Biodiversity Literatures
1.2.3 Analysis on Authors of literatures
We can find out that the 146 literatures involve 386 authors (including the second, third and other
authors), and average number of authors is 2.6. It shows that researches on karst biodiversity are
mainly done by more than two researchers and most of them specialized in ecology,
environmental ecology, geography, eco-hydrology, eco-agriculture, etc.. There are five authors
who published 5 or more than that. They are Wang Kelin (8 papers), Su Weici (6papers), Chen
Hongsong (5papers), Xiong Kangning (5 papers) and Rong Li (5 papers). Most of them are the
persons in charge of many programs with foundations for karst areas. Related researches are
gradually become continuous developing researches with core of academic leaders.
2. Design of Literatures’ Relevance
2.1 Principles of Study Design
2.1.1 Representativeness
By analyzing the situation of literatures, we can find out that the number of researches presents an
increasing tendency and two-thirds of the authors engage in ecology, geography and agriculture
with master and doctor degrees. We chose 89 papers published in journals listed in the A Guide of
Core Journal of China in 2008 and in the Karsologica Sinica, Journal of Guizhou Normal
University (Natural Science Edition) and other significant journals in karst field. And we also
chose 1 doctoral dissertation and 1 thesis for master’s degree. We reviewed these literatures with
purpose of truly reflecting and concluding theories, methodologies and applications of researches
of biodiversity of karst rocky desertification areas.
2.1.2 Combination of Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis
There are usually two steps to analyze literatures’ contents in reviews of geographical and
ecological literatures in China at present. First, classification systems are concluded in the process
of collecting data based on subjective understanding and theoretical derivation. Second,
quantitative analysis method in the laboratory is used to analyzing the literatures. This method,
describing and inferring relevance among literatures and their structure, can truly, objectively and
comprehensively reflect the relevance. However, it just suits case studies with purpose of
describing the facts. It has subjectivity and singleness and other shortcomings. For this reason, the
analysis results lack universality, which may cause wrong cluster of individual literatures and
weak relevance among them. Therefore, we firstly take Network Content Analysis Method to
analyze the contents of literatures. Secondly, we take Hierarchical Clustering Analysis Method to
analyze the relevance of literatures. All in all, we takes method of combination of qualitative and
quantitative analysis to systematically review on biodiversity literatures of rocky desertification
ecosystems.
2.2 Methodology of Review
To make literatures more representative and review the research process systematically and
rigorously, we take chi-square test to analyze classification and Pearson Analysis to analyze the
relevance of individual literatures with the following steps.
First, we abstract key words of individual literatures as main parameter Am (Am are main key
words selected; n=1,2,3·
·
·k(k∈m) );
Secondly, we take all key words of individual literatures as parameter Bm (Bm are all key words
selected; n=1,2,3·
·
·k(k∈m) );
Thirdly, we compare any parameter with main parameter and rank the results as five levels, which
are completely different, different, similar, more similar, completely similar that are assigned with
1 to 5 respectively to process numerically.
Fourthly, we use MATLAB7.0 following the formula (1) to calculate the coefficient
Rxy according
to the numeral results, taking individual literature as unit. Rxy is the coefficient of two individual
literatures; Xi and Yi assigned numbers of individual literatures; m, number of individual
literatures;
m
Rxy  [ ( xi 
i 1
1
m
m
 x )( y
i 1
i
i

1 m
 yi )] / [
m i 1
m
 (x
i 1
i

1 m
 xi )
m i 1
2
m
(y
i 1
i
(1)
2

1 m
 yi ) ]
m i 1
The fifth step is acquiring subclass Ai according the analysis results of main parameters;
The sixth step is testing Rxy double side ( P[ t n   t a (n)=a] ).
3. Research Literature Contents and Results Analysis
3.1 Relevance Analysis of the Literature Contents
It is found that scholars mainly focus on 4 aspects, that is, diversity characteristics, maintaining
mechanisms, rebuilding mechanisms, monitoring and assessment, following the above steps
through analyzing 2 theses and 89 literatures both in Chinese and foreign language. The relevance
between research fields and individual literature can be seen in Table 1.
Table 1 Analytical System of Biodiversity Literatures of Rocky Desertification Areas
Research Field (Main
Research Perspective
Classes AM=A5)
(Subclass Am)
single
total
accumulation
single
total
accumulation
Coefficient≥Rxy
Natural Characteristic
16
20
16
18%
22%
18%
≥0.882**
Human Disturbing
4
20
4%
22%
≥0.733*
37
19%
41%
≥0.893**
Diversity
A1
Characteristics
Research Literatures (Quantities)
Specific Gravity(%)
Correlation
Characteristic
Diversity Maintaining
A2
Mechanism
Restoration Measures
A3
Impact of Biotic Factors
17
39
43%
Impact of Abiotic Factors
15
52
16%
57%
≥0.822*
Impact by Human Activities
7
59
8%
65%
≥0.908**
Countermeasures for
7
66
8%
73%
≥0.932**
Rebuilding
5
71
5%
78%
≥0.885**
77
7%
85%
≥0.889**
13
13%
Analysis of Benefits
Monitoring and
A4
Evaluation

Total
—
Species Diversity
6
20
Landscape Diversity
6
83
7%
92%
≥0.891**
Genetic Diversity
8
91
8%
100%
≥0.903**
—
—
91
—
100%
—
—
23%
—
Note: ①the value in the Column of Quantities of Research Literatures means the Quantities of doctoral theses and
those for masters’ degree; ②Rxy means the minimum of relevant coefficient between two individual literatures
from the research perspective; when Rxy is more than or equal to 0.750, the relevance between the two literatures
is strong; ③*** means the significant relevance at the 0.1 level by two-tailed test; ** means the significant
relevance at the 0.05 level by two-tailed test; * means the significant relevance at the 0.1 level by two-tailed test.
3.2 Research Literature Classification Analysis
3.2.1 Biological Diversity Characteristics of Karst
Karst is widely distributed in the world. According the distribution of latitudes, it has five zonal
characteristics: the tropical Karst, the subtropical Karst, and the temperate Karst from south to
north, the arid Karst in the northwest of China and the chilling plateau Karst in the Tibet Platea. It
has a total area of 51 million km2, accounting for about 10% of the total area of the earth, and the
more concentrated areas include lands in southern China, northern Vietnam, Kentucky USA,
Slovenia Diener Rick mountain and etc [3]. The research is explored from two perspectives: native
characteristics (16) and human disturbance characteristics (4). There are 20 research literatures,
accounting for about 22% of the total number of the research literatures, in which there is a
significant correlation.
3.2.1.1 Native Characteristics
The biomes in Karst region, as those in non-Karst regions, have characteristics of horizontal
zonation and vertical zonation, and the species diversity distribution is more concentrated on the
tropical and the subtropical regions. Jamaica Karst forest has high species richness, with 280 kinds
of vascular plants [4]. The tropical deciduous forest, growing under drought conditions in southern
Mexico, takes monocots and vegetatively propagated plants as the dominant species, but it lacks
annuals, grasses, and cryptogams [5]. In the seasonal deciduous Karst region of central Brazil, there
are 39 kinds of woody plants with the diameter at breast height more than 5 cm, and the individual
number is 734 [6]. The tropical Karst region in Xishuangbanna is an area where tropical mountain
bushes develop well and there are 1269 kinds of seed plants [7,8]；In the subtropical Karst area of
Libo, there are four major types of forest vegetation communities: evergreen and deciduous
broad-leaved forest, warm coniferous and broad-leaved forest, warm coniferous forest, and there
are 1,532 kinds of higher plants [9]，and the soil macrofauna are of 3 categories, 7 headings, and 23
classes [10]；in the subtropical humid monsoon zone of dolomite Karst in Shibing, the plant flora
has the characteristics of both temperate, tropical and subtropical flora, and there are 1352 kinds
of higher plants; Fauna are mainly characterized by terrestrial vertebrates with a total number of
298 kinds of vertebrate [11]；Therefore, Karst native forest is called “the emerald in the earth belt”
for its high biodiversity. In recent years, despite new species gradually been found [12,13]，actually
there are far more species exist，many small, micro species have not yet been recorded or
described, especially those species limited by monitoring conditions, such as Karst insects, soil
animals and microorganisms；there are many burrowing organisms living a hidden life in the
Karst caves，for example, David has investigated the species richness of the major Karst cave
animals in the world, among the species, the largest number of species in the Sistem Postojna ~
planina carve of Slovenia has reached 84 [14]. In addition, he had also done large number of studies
on cave spiders [15], bats [16] and fish [17] and other species. Although they are not easily observed,
the types and the quantity are also very surprising. In general, the Karst native biodiversity are
characterized by rich vegetation types, high diversity index, diverse animal and plant taxa, rich
、
endemic species, and the main suitable species in flora and etc[18 19]。
3.2.1.2 Human Disturbance Characteristics
Since the ecosystem is subject to the constraints of Karst environment，the anti-jamming capability
is weak，the ecological recovery is weak. It is an extremely venerable ecological environment,
vulnerable to the impact of human activities, and as a result, the evolution of biodiversity has
deviated from the natural state [20]. At abroad, strong human disturbance are mainly concentrated
on the agricultural waste land or industrial waste land. Aide [21] and Mclaren[22] have reported the
ecological recovery conducted in the waste land of Dominican Republic and Jamaica，and the
result showed that different species have different restoring force, and the restoring force of
young forest may have a long-term impact on the region's species diversity. In China, it is argued
that the ecological degradation zone of Karst (or rocky desertification area) takes strong human
disturbance as its driving force. The eventual appearance of land is similar to the process of
desertification landscape [23]，and the productivity degradation can bring damage to biodiversity
and reverse succession to vegetation, making species diversity disappear and many species die out
in the region.
3.2.2 Karst Biodiversity Maintenance Mechanism
The comprehensive view on the biodiversity maintenance mechanism is the three categories of
ecological factors proposed by Jeffries [24]: the main factors, the ecology templates and the internal
factors. At present, the Karst biodiversity maintenance mechanism spreads under the framework of
the above three categories of restricting factors , that the research field is mainly focused on the
biological factors (17), non-biological factors (15) and human factors (7) , there are totally 39
research literatures, accounting for about 43% of the total number of the research literatures, and
correlation coefficients are over 0.75, indicating that the correlation between various types of
research literature in the field is strong.
3.2.2.1 Biological Factors
The studies on biological factors of Karst biodiversity is mainly conducted and analyzed from
three angles: biomass, inter-specific relationships and productivity. And the specific research
perspective is summarized as follows:
(1) The biomass of plant communities is the basis of the maintenance mechanism of biodiversity
in different spatial and temporal scales [25]，and the earlier study used unified wood regression
model to estimate the biomass on the ground [26,27]. In recent years, while the wood regression
model is widely used, there is big difference between the growth morphology and the mass density
of species in the native state and the growth of species in artificial vegetation recovery areas,
which makes the biomass estimation on this basis produce some errors. We can establish biomass
regression models [28] and biomass - volume regression models [29] on the dominant species in
order to eliminate the errors. We estimated the forest biomass in Guizhou using the above method,
and the results showed that the biomass in non-Karst areas was significantly higher than that in the
Karst areas [29]. Therefore, the variation of ground biomass presents that when the biomass in the
native area is too small, diversity and biomass is positively correlated; when the biomass exceeds
the standard level, the diversity and biomass is negatively correlated. But in the ecological
degradation area, the biomass generally increases along with the diversity.
At the same time of the fast development of relevant studies on ground biomass，the studies on the
underground biomass has offered a research base for it with the development in the rhizosphere
soil microbial field. Thus, studies on roots and the soil microbial biomass become the focus of the
research on this aspect. Wei Yuan[30]and Wang Xinzhou[31] had studied the different vegetation
types in the ecological degradation area of Karst，The results all showed a significant rhizosphere
effect. However, by comparison and analysis, they found that the changing trends between the
ground and underground biomass are different [32]. During ecological degradation, the ground
biomass decreases with the ecological degradation, while the underground biomass shows a rising
trend；During ecological recovery, under the influence of ground vegetation, it is generally
believed that the surface and underground biomass will increase with the community succession.
(2) Different inter-specific relationships have different influences on the biodiversity
maintenance，they reflect the inter-relationship of the species in the space. for example：in the
growing process of the Maolan Karst forest gaps, the biodiversity will react differently to the
changing ecological environment，forest gaps provide opportunities of "mining" competition for
species in the three stages of early period, development and mature，thus making the distribution
even, dominance low, diversity index high, this is the influence of forest gaps on biodiversity
coexistence mechanism [33]. Zhang Zhonghua[34,35] et al, in order to explore the different
biodiversity coexistence mechanism in different habitats, take Maolan native forest and the
ecological recovery community as the research object，and they believe that no matter in the native
areas or degraded areas of Karst, species all exhibit significant differences in habitat preferences.
But in the native areas, the randomly adjacent species take the advantage, which shows that they
are of climax-level in a relatively stable state；In the ecological recovery region, the niche
differentiate mutually，the positive and negative links or related species are similar in quantity,
indicating that their stability are strongly influenced by the habitat heterogeneity. The
inter-specific relationship exists not only between plants but also between animals. But there is
few relevant literatures，Zhoujiang[36] studied the relationship between bat predator behavior and
specific habitats, and he believed that the key to the niche separation of the bats communities lies
in whether a species moves towards a niche already occupied by other species.
(3) Productivity is one of the key factors which influence biodiversity maintenance，and there
must be certain rules between the two, for example, when the forest communities occur positive
succession, the diversity increases and in turn promotes nitrogen cycle of the soil - vegetation, so
as to accelerate the productivity improvement [37]. The links existing in the natural succession
environment are conditional, they are different in different ecosystems，and they demonstrate a
nonlinear variation as in other forest areas. At the same time, many research results show that the
intervention of human activity on the productivity changes will cause different results on the
biodiversity. In the reforestation project，the forage diversity presents an overall increasing trend
for the average productivity of the mixture communities. However, in the case of mixing parts of
plants of the same family, the inter-specific competition is strong and the productivity declines [38].
Generally the influence mechanism of diversity on productivity includes complementary
mechanism and selection effects in the ecological diversity mechanisms. In large spatial scales, the
overall productivity in the Karst region increases with the increase of diversity，and the growth
trend is similar to that in the non-Karst areas, it also shows a significant change differences in
different vegetation zones [39-41]. This indicates that the diversity and species composition is also a
main factor that affects productivity.
3.2.2.2 Abiotic Factors
Studies on the abiotic factors of Karst biodiversity are mainly conducted from three angles: habitat
heterogeneity, climatic factors and soil factors, and the specific research perspective are as follows:
(1) many studies have shown that habitat heterogeneity is the important factor that influences
biodiversity. It is a specific environmental characteristic that reflects changes in biodiversity, and
the core of studies on maintenance mechanism of the biodiversity. The Karst habitat is constituted
by a variety of complex types of inlaid niches，and there is certain relation between biodiversity
and geological diversity，for example：The similarity between species is low indices in different
niches and the species and distribution are distributed unevenly [42]; from the view of the species
density, plants’ utilization of habitats vary [43]. While in the diverse variation of soil
microorganisms [44] and soil animals [45], there are also rules similar to plant diversity. The
fragmentation in the landscape plaque has played a role of mutual isolation in population genetics.
In the research process of the genetic diversity of soil arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in
different niches, Wei Yuan et al [46] found that though the genetic diversity of AMF in each niche is
rich, its similarity index is low, which indicates that the habitat heterogeneity has a significant
impact on the genetic diversity of AMF. But in the aspect of large-scale research, the relevant
literature are few, only Brewer [47] conducts a study in the Belize Karst region, which reveals that
the diversity increases with the increase of altitude in terrain gradient .
(2) The variation of biodiversity in the Karst areas also indicates the band distribution rules in the
climate zones. However, due to the diversity of the niche types, the microclimate also has a variety
of features，The biodiversity of plants in a variety of microclimatic zones show different rules.
Under normal circumstances, the ecological climatic conditions of soil surface and gully is good,
changes in light, heat, humidity is mild,and the species and quantity of plants are higher. However,
changes in radiation, temperature and humidity of the stone surface and crevice are violent, and
the diversity is restricted [48]. In the native forest, the sun radiation, soil temperature, evaporation
quantity inside the forest is lower compared with that in the rocky desertification areas. The
microclimatic effect is good, which is of great significance to the maintenance of biodiversity
[49] .The research results show that there is interaction between biodiversity and microclimate. in
rocky desertification areas, the order of climate quality is sequentially: woodland> shrubbery>
grass> lawn>rocky desertification bare land, and the variation is the same with the ranking of
biodiversity size [50,51].
(3) In natural ecosystems, the physical and chemical properties of the soil and the active enzyme
are the main factors affecting biodiversity maintenance. The soil parent material also affects
biodiversity, as the biodiversity in pure limestone areas is higher than that in pure dolomite areas
[52]. Under natural conditions, the biodiversity in the same biological system increases with the
increasing of the physical and chemical properties of the soil; But when the nutritional elements in
the succession stages of different vegetation are no longer factors that restrict the growth of
species, the relationship between the active enzyme and the physical and chemical properties
changes. For example, if the physical and chemical property of the soil is within the thresholds, it
is positively correlated. But when the nitrogen content in the soil is higher than the threshold, the
urease activity may show a negative correlation [53]. The urease activity shows a declining trend
with the increasing of biodiversity, but the phosphatase activity shows the opposite variation [54].
But the human disturbance will play different impacts on them, as the fire will increase soil
physical and chemical properties but reduce the biodiversity [55].
3.2.2.3 The Impact of Human Activities on Diversity Maintenance Mechanism
The ecological environment in Karst areas is vulnerable, human activity has greatly changed the
biodiversity and exrted huge counteraction to the structure and function of its ecosystem. Logging
has different impacts on biodiversity. Selective logging is of moderate disturbance in Karst areas,
as its purpose is strong, and the biodiversity can be effectively maintained [56]；However, excessive
logging will lead to a sharp reduction of the tree layers. There is a rapid decline in the species and
quantity of understory herbaceous plants as they can’t adapt to micro-climatic changes，as a result,
the biodiversity rapidly decreases and the ecosystem is severely damaged [54]. Though the
widespread project of turning slopes to terrace in Karst areas has improved land utilization and
brought benefit to soil and water conservation，the project seriously affects the cycle between
species, and may lead to a decline in biodiversity. Therefore, in order to maintain the biodiversity
of the area, it is necessary to maintain the diversity of species and the environment in space and
time during artificial ecological recovery [57-59]. In addition, many scholars have conducted a
comparative study on the relationship between human activities on single ecosystem diversity,
characteristics and the variation of each system, which leads to a wide range of discussions [60-62]。
3.2.3 The Reconstruction Policy of Karst Biodiversity
Under the strong influence of human activities, ecosystems in the venerable natural geological
environment of Karst presented a degradation trend, the categories and quantity of species
decreased and biological diversity declined significantly. At present, researches based on
biodiversity reconstruction are focused on the formulation of reconstruction policy (7) and benefit
analysis (5), there are 13 literatures，accounting for 13% of the total number of research literatures.
The correlation coefficients of the research literature are all over 0.75, the t-test results show a
significant relation, indicating that there is a strong correlation between various types of research
literature in the field.
3.2.3.1 Formulation of Reconstruction Policy
The venerable eco-geological background and the unreasonable human activities have led to rocky
desertification. According to monitoring results of the State Forestry Administration, the area of
Karst is 45.10 × 104 km2, of which the rock desertification area is 12.96 × 104km2 and the
potential rocky land area is 12.34 × 104km2, accounting for 39.5% of the total area of Karst land
[63]. In terms of ecological deterioration, the State Council issued the comprehensive management
project of rocky desertification; the rocky desertification land is divided into five levels: not
obvious, potential, mild, moderate, and intense [64]. By Combining the difference in the degree of
biodiversity degradation in different levels of rocky desertification，they summed up three modes:
ecological migrants - forest conservation - natural vegetation recovery mode, returning farmland
to vegetation - water and soil conservation - forestation mode, the sustainable development of
ecological agriculture - courtyard economy - resource industry modes [65]. In different recovery
modes, the reconstruction measures of biodiversity are different. Mode one mainly uses the
intense rocky area, with high degree of ecosystem degradation, severe biodiversity destruction, a
small number of species, and a large area of the exposed bedrock. By reducing human disturbance
and conforming to positive succession rules of plants, a climax ecological community with rich
biodiversity can eventually be formed in the local natural ecological environment [66]. Meanwhile
in areas with appropriate conditions, artificial measures such as artificial replanting and
reconstruction and artificial natural regeneration can be supplemented [67], so as to carry out the
diversity reconstruction project. Mode two is distributed in the returning arable land that is mainly
moderate rocky desertification. Before returning farmland, the human interference is dramatic, the
loss of biological diversity is serious, so diversity reconstruction during this time needs to stop
human disturbance and to breed suitable species artificially so as to enhance the update. For
example, in subtropical ecosystem of Karst, the calcium-preferable, anti-poor, drought-tolerant
tree species are generally the main species, namely, to take species like Ulmaceae Rhamnaceae,
Anacardiaceae, Rutaceae, Berberidaceae lex as the dominant species [68]. In the actual recovery
project, it needs to combine abiotic factors such as the local climate and habitat geography to
determine the categories and quantity of the species, and then introduce eco-suitable species.
Mode three is mainly distributed in the potential and mild rocky desertification area with good soil
quality, relatively thick soil and great production potential. Due to the great pressure of population
in the region, it needs to carry out grass (grain) composite operation, and breed suitable cash crops
from multi-level, multi-direction, and ultimately achieve the optimization among ecology,
economy, and society. Through years of practice, it gradually summed up some cycle modes such
as “fruit medicine - pork, beef and horse sheep - marsh "," fruit - pig - grass – fish”, fruit medicine
- food - pig "and etc, and formed a variety of mixed farming operation [69].
3.2.3.2 Benefit Analysis
When conduct biodiversity recovery in the same rocky desertification region, it needs to integrate
the three modes and then put them to use, the recovery modes that occur in single forms can’t
meet the harmonious development among ecology, economy, and society. With human
assistance, the species diversity gradually come back to life and slowly recovers, the richness
exhibits linear increase [70]. But there are differences in the diversity evolution of different
recovery modes in different habitats, recovery stages and plant communities. The overall process
of community succession is: the rocky desertification → grass → grass shrub → shrub →
irrigation cholin → evergreen and deciduous broadleaf forest → climax community [71]. Species
diversities in the same area are different along with the difference of the rocky desertification
intensity and differences of ecological recovery measures, the spatial difference is significant. It
exhibit moderate> strong> mild> potential when judging from different rocky desertification level
[72]；And it is closed forest> plantation> secondary forest when judging from different ecological
recovery measures [70]. The spatial evolution of species diversity of soil animal is the same with
vegetation diversity [73]. Though the species diversity in rocky desertification region has been
effectively improved with the depth of the comprehensive management project of rocky
desertification it still exhibit overall characteristics of low biodiversity ability, weak vegetation
growth ability and strong repeatability. On the whole it is believed that with the continuous
advance of the comprehensive management of rocky desertification, the species richness increases
continuously, the range and density of species habitat, and effective human intervention can
promote the ecological recovery of the rocky desertification regions.
3.2.4 Karst Biodiversity Monitoring and Evaluation
Biodiversity monitoring and evaluation means to conduct regular or occasional monitoring
activities so as to determine to what extent it is in accordance with the expected standards or not
[74]. The global Karst biodiversity monitoring and evaluation in the real sense started from 1992
when countries signed the Convention on Biological Diversity, and it launched the comprehensive
monitoring and evaluation in the Karst region with the nation as the administrative units, tracking
and monitoring perennially. At present, the monitoring and evaluation activities in the region can
basically reflect the integration in different spatial and temporal scales of the species, ecosystems
and landscapes [75] [76]. The main researches are started from 3 perspectives: landscape diversity (6),
species diversity (6) and genetic diversity (8), there are 20 research literatures, accounting for
about 22% of the total number of research literatures. The correlation coefficients between
research literatures are all over 0.75, and t-test results show a significant relation, indicating that
there is a strong correlation among various types of research literature in the field.
3.2.4.1 Landscape Diversity Survey
Biodiversity, at the landscape level, is mainly the feedback of comprehensive information that
reflects the relationship and interaction between different habitat environments and bio-geographic
flora. The special geological landforms redistribute the environmental elements such as water, soil
and light, which will lead to a prominent dual nature of horizontal and vertical distribution, and
ultimately form complex and diverse ecosystems. At present, it is mainly applied to the studies on
changes of landscape types in the ecological diversity degradation areas, such as the analysis of
the impact of the terrain factor on the evolution trend of potential ecological degradation, and the
result shows that the greater the slope is, the greater the magnitude of degradation will be, but
slope and slope positiona have smaller impact [77]. By monitoring the landscape diversity index in
three levels of landscape, types and plaques and in different Karst areas [58,78-80], the feedback
shows that landscape diversity index for vegetation, soil and land use are not identical. The
vegetation landscape diversity showed a more complex mosaic structure, but its mosaic patterns
are consistent in the high-coverage, mid and low-coverage and the mid-coverage vegetation areas；
The incidence rate features are different in different landscape patterns and soil types. It is mainly
brown limestone soil and rocky soil in rocky desertification areas, the aggregation degree of the
rocky soil is the lowest, the area of acidic skeletal soil plaque is the largest while its
fragmentation degree is the lowest, the distribution of black limestone soil is the most dispersed
and the yellow soil traits index is the lowest；under different land-use patterns, the proportion of
the area, fragmentation and fractal dimension of each landscape type change significantly along
the intensity gradient of human activity, the magnitude of gradient changes exhibit: shrub land>
upland> unused> coverage grassland. It is necessary to note that landscape diversity is not only
closely related to topography and human activities but also closely related to species diversity. The
two are not of simple positive relation but often normal distribution relation, and it is harmful to
the species diversity whether the landscape diversity is too high or too low [81].
3.2.4.2 Species Diversity Survey
There are rich species in the Karst district (see 4.2.1), and the changes in species richness is an
important part of the species diversity monitoring and evaluation. The degree of richness will vary
greatly with differences of sampling areas, Shen xin[82] used the species - area curve method in
central Yunnan Karst mountain region, he confirmed the above theory, and put forward that when
the increase of the total number of species is between 0.15-0.2 m2 it will gradually slow down.
After establishing the richness relation function between species, it needs to further study the key
species and their spatial distribution patterns, and the dominance index method is usually used to
try to find them. In the area of native forest, as the functional groups of shrubs and vines have a
prominent dominance, it is easy to determine their key species; while the tree layers have no
significant dominance, their key species are not easy to determine. Zhang Zhonghua [83] did
experiment in the Karst forest and found that the key species of shrubs were (Euonymus
myrianthus hemsl.) and (Tarenna mollissima (Hook. et Arn.) Robins); and the key species of
Fujimoto are Toddalia asiatica (L.) Lam. and Dalbergia hancei Benth., but arbor has no key
species. The spatial distribution pattern shows that the species are related to the terrain habitats,
each kind of species will choose the habitat they like and distribute aggregately. Species of
random distribution are relatively few, but they usually prefer particular habitats, such as (Celtis
biondii Pamp.), (Cyclobalanopsis gracilis (Rehder et E. H. Wilson) W. C. Cheng et T. Hong) and
(Carpinus pubescens Burk.)[84]. In the ecological recovery district of the rocky desertification,
the key species are mainly the pioneer species first invade before recovery and with the
collaborative purification process of community succession and habitats environment, key species
will also evolve, and exhibit a succession process: pioneer species group→ transitional species
group → the top-level species group. Spatial distribution pattern varies with different vegetation
recovery methods human take in different levels of rocky desertification [85-87]. Under normal
circumstances, the intense district mainly takes natural repair pattern, moderate district takes the
pattern of combining the human-assisted ecological recovery and economic forest, and the mild
district takes the pattern of combining grass arrangement and special economic fruit.
3.2.4.3 Genetic Diversity Survey
The study of genetic diversity is an important prerequisite for genetic resources conservation, and
also a key factor for reconstructing the Karst ecosystem. The endangered species in the Karst
region are mostly endemic species. Due to the reduction of species, and the isolation of species by
niche, more and more endangered species are in urgent need of protection. While analyzing the
diversity of the (Handeliodendron bodinieri.) in Maolan natural distribution community, it found
that human disturbance haven’t seriously weaken the genetic variation of Handeliodendron, by
experiment, 10 pairs of microsatellite loci which exhibit polymorphism amplification are found,
3-5 alleles are obtained by amplifying each pair of primers on Handeliodendron [90]. But this kind
of research is relatively few. In recent years, the research is mainly focused on the genetic
diversity of crops, pasture and microbial species. In crops it takes Zea mays L as the main
research object, Peng Zhonghua, by tracing and analyzing different growing period of the
maize germplasm, found that there was a significant difference in leaf structure and
physiological characteristics between this species and other species of maize, he then used RAPD
and SSR as markers and found that 23 primers of good polymorphism had amplified 152
polymorphic bands, and six groups were divided after UPGMA [91-93]. Trifolium repens is the
most stable grass populations in the Karst region[94], Trifolium repens of 20 years has 14 alleles,
and Trifolium repens of 100 years has only eight alleles, this means that populations of longer
life take the few large clones as the dominant[93]. A vast majority of microorganisms can form
mutualistic symbionts with plant roots, from the variation of the genetic diversity of arbuscular
mycorrhizal in the different niches of Maolan, it finds that the genetic diversity is rich in each
niche; the average is 3.67, much higher than that in other regions [43]. In different abandoned
modes, the genetic diversity of soil microbial is performed as economic forest and grassland in
short period, the genetic taxonomic diversity of soil fungi is significantly higher than that in the
abandoned arable land and traditional farming land (P <0 • 05); the metabolic functional diversity
of soil bacteria in the tillage pasture is significantly lower than that in other modes (P<0·05) [94].
4. Conclusion and Discussion
By analyzing recent years research literature on Karts biodiversity, particularly the representative
ones including two Master thesis and Doctoral dissertation as well as 89 journal articles and based
on the literature review method, the characteristics of research perspective choosing are found as
follows: on the quantity aspect, diversity maintaining mechanisms (39 articles)> the diversity
characteristic (20 articles), biodiversity monitoring and evaluation (20 articles)> diversity
reconstruction (13 articles), the diversity of native features (16 articles), the biological
maintenance mechanism (17 articles) and abiotic maintenance mechanism (15 articles). Compared
to researches on the native area, those on the rocky desertification area diversity lag behind. But
with the expanding of the rocky desertification project, research on the bio-diversity as core
indicators reflecting regional ecological environment improvement, is increasing year by year.
In a word, so far research on the Karst biodiversity has gained certain achievements in the basic
characteristics, maintenance mechanism, reconstruction mechanism as well as monitoring and
evaluation and attention on these aspects is also rising. But as a complex, ecological and with
property diversity geological problem, there are still many problems to be resolved by scholars.
Therefore, based on the research review of this paper and the author’s long-term practical work,
this paper put forward the following four key aspects which are urgently needed to be addressed in
future work and in hope of arousing the scholars’ resonance:
(1) Populations (and their genes) are a combination of three scale interaction of genetic, species
and ecosystem. But investigation of the flora and fauna of Karst area is still underway and
especially studies in microbial population are not yet perfect, which thus can not be as a complete
representation of biodiversity variation. Recently in Karst area, species can be well identified and
diversity evaluation can be done between species or within a species. But the study of genetic
variation is not just associated with the phenotype, and thus diversity study in the DNA level and
establishment of genetic variation classification system are needed to be as the basis of
maintaining the bio-diversity.
(2) Currently biodiversity maintaining of Karst Area is mainly on the basis of habitats or
ecosystem and starts from the survey of threatened species to gradually explore the mechanism of
biological diversity maintenance in the economic development process. For example: ①how to
maintain the viability, adaptive capacity, mutation capabilities and continuing evolution
capabilities of the populations; ②on the basis of habitats or ecosystem, how to build a network to
maintain regional diversity, especially on the condition of insufficient understanding of the species
constitute of a particular area; ③how to coordinate the maintaining role of ecosystem diversity at
the Macro and that of species diversity and genetic diversity at the Micro.
(3) Biodiversity reconstruction mechanism of rocky desertification area is to start from the
requirements of social development and ecological environment, to emphasize the economic value
of the recovery area and seek flora and fauna suiting regional environment, and with the help of
human to assist nature recovery. With the continuous deepening of the treatment project, scholars
need to answer the following questions: ①how to solve the adverse impact of the different
genotypes brought by the introduced species even though artificially introduction of species can
achieve a very high success rate; ②how to coordinate between artificial restoration and natural
recovery in order to ensure the maintenance of regional biodiversity;③both how to investigate the
native biodiversity of rocky desertification area and the application of native species are to be
explored in rebuilding process.
(4) Though monitoring and evaluation work on the landscape, species, and genetic are conducted,
the collected information is not comprehensive, which can not completely reflect the status of
biodiversity and the alternatives evaluation index can not be put forward toward the status quo.
Thus, how to build a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system will be the core of future
work and then introduce some further advanced monitoring methods, evaluation technology to
Karst region in order to provide scientific data for the maintenance and reconstruction of
biological diversity in Karst region.
References：
[1] Tu Y L. Preliminary study on Karst forests in Guizhou. Carsologica Sinica, 1989, 8(4): 282-290.
[2] Yu L F, Zhu S Q, Ye J Z, Wei L M, Chen Z R. Evaluation on degradation of Karst forest community and human
disturbance. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 2002, 13(5): 529-532.
[3] Gao G L, Deng Z M, Xiong K N, and Su X L. The Call and Perspective of Karst. Guiyang: Guizhou
Technological Press, 2003: 1-16.
[4] Kelly D L, Tanner E V J, Kapos V, Dickinson T A, Goodfriend G A, Fairbairn P. Jamaican limestone forests:
floristics, structure and environment of three examples along a rainfall gradient. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 1988,
4(2): 121-156.
[5] Pérez-García E A, Meave J A. Heterogeneity of xerophytic vegetation of limestone outcrops in a tropical
deciduous forest region in southern México. Plant Ecology, 2004, 175(2): 147-163.
[6] Felfili J M, Nascimento A R T, Fagg C W, Meirelles E M. Floristic composition and community structure of a
seasonally deciduous forest on limestone outcrops in Central Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Botânica, 2007, 30(4):
611-621.
[7] Zhu H, Wang H, Li B. The structure, species composition and diversity of the limestone vegetation in
Xishuangbanna, SW China. Gardens, Bulletin Singapore, 1998, 50: 5-33.
[8] Zhu H, Wang H, Li B, Sirirugsa P. Biogeography and floristic affinities of the limestone flora in southern
Yunnan, China. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 2003, 90(3): 444-465.
[9] Zhu H. The karst ecosystem of southern China and its biodiversity. Tropical Forestry, 2007, 35(S1): 44-47.
[10] Lan H B, Ran J C, Meng H L, Xu H, Deng B L. A preliminary study on diversity of soil macrofauna in
Maolan Karst Forest. Journal of Southwest University: Natural Science Edition, 2011, 33(3): 73-77.
[11] Li X N, Xiong K N, Chen H, Rong L, Xiang G, Guo Z Y, Zhou J. Biodiversity and world heritage values of
Shibing dolomite karst area in Qiandongnan. Journal of Guizhou Normal University: Natural Sciences, 2010, 28(3):
13-18.
[12] Zhou F, Jiang A W. A new species of babbler (Timaliidae: Stachyris) from the sino-vietnamese border region
of China. The Auk, 2008, 125(2): 420-424.
[13] Trejo-Torres J C. Tabebuia karsoana (Bignoniaceae), a new species from the northern karst of Puerto Rico.
Kew Bulletin, 2009, 64(2): 295-299.
[14] Culver D C, Sket B. Biological monitoring in caves. Acta Carsologica, 2002, 31(1): 55-64.
[15] Ba J W, Li D H. Diversity of the cave-dwelling spiders and their adaptation to the cave environment in China.
Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica, 2009, 34(1): 98-105.
[16] Furey N M, Mackie I J, Racey P A. The role of ultrasonic bat detectors in improving inventory and monitoring
surveys in Vietnamese karst bat assemblages. Current Zoology, 2009, 55(5): 327-341.
[17] Zhang X J, Da Y G. Review for the studies on the Karst cave fishes in China. Journal of Shanghai Ocean
University, 2010, 19(3): 364-371.
[18] Shimizu T. Studies on the limestone flora of Japan and Taiwan. PartⅡ. Journal of the Faculty of Textile
Science and Technology, Shinshu University, 1963, 12: 1-88.
[19] Zhu H, Wang H, Li B, Sirirugsa P. Biogeography and floristic affinities of the limestone flora in southern
Yunnan, China. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 2003, 90(3): 444-465.
[20] Yuan D X. On the karst ecosystem. Acta Geologica Sinica, 2001, 75(3): 336-338.
[21]Aide T M, Zimmerman J K, Pascarella J B, Rivera L, Marcano-vega H. Forest regeneration in a
chronosequence of tropical abandoned pastures: implications for restoration ecology. Restoration Ecology, 2000,
8(4): 328-338.
[22] McLaren K P, McDonald M A. Coppice regrowth in a disturbed tropical dry limestone forest in Jamaica.
Forest Ecology and Management, 2003, 180(1-3): 99-111.
[23] Wang S J. Concept deduction and its connotation of karst rocky desertification. Carsologica Sinica, 2002,
21(2): 101-105.
[24] Jeffries M J. Biodiversity and Conservation. London and New York: Routledge, 1997: 39-73.
[25] Gill R A, Kelly R H, Parton W J, Day K A, Jackson R B, Morgan J A, Scurlock J M O, Tieszen L L, Castle J V,
Ojima D S, Zhang X S. Using simple environmental variables to estimate below-ground productivity in grasslands.
Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2002, 11(1): 79-86.
[26] Yang H K, Cheng S Z. Study on biomass of the karst forest community in Maolan, Guizhou Province. Acta
Ecologica Sinica, 1991, 11(4): 307-313.
[27] Zhu S Q, Wei L M, Chen Z R, Zhang C G. A preliminary study on biomass components of karst forest in
Maolan of Guizhou Province, China. Acta Phytoecologica Sinica, 1995, 19(4): 358-367.
[28] Liu C C, Wei Y F, Liu Y G, Guo K. Biomass of canopy and shrub layers of karst forests in Puding, Guizhou,
China. Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology, 2009, 33(4): 698-705.
[29] Tian X L, Xia J, Xia H B, Ni J. Forest biomass and its spatial pattern in Guizhou Province. Chinese Journal of
Applied Ecology, 2011, 22(2): 287-294.
[30] Wei Y, Zhang J C, Yu L F. Changes of soil microbial biomass carbon along successional processes of degraded
karst vegetation. Journal of Nanjing Forestry University: Natural Sciences Edition, 2008, 32(5): 71-75.
[31] Wang X Z, Hu Z L, Du Y X, Liu Y Z, Li L Q, Pang G X. Comparison of microbial biomass and community
structure of rhizosphere soil between forest and shrubbery in karst ecosystems. Soils, 2010, 42(2): 224-229.
[32] Du Y X, Pan G X, Li L Q, Hu Z L, Wang X Z. Partitioning of vegetation biomass, nutrient storage and cycling
of degraded ecosystems from mountainous Karst region, central Guizhou, China. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 2010,
30(23): 6338-6347.
[33] Long C L, Yu S X. Dynamics of species composition and generation pattern in the gaps of karst forest in
Maolan, Guizhou Province. Scientia Silvae Sinicae, 2007, 43(9): 7-12.
[34] Zhang Z H, Hu G, Ni J. Interspecific segregation of old-growth karst forests in Maolan, Southwest China.
Acta Ecologica Sinica, 2010, 30(9): 2235-2245.
[35] Zhang Z H, Hu G. Interspecific relationships of dominant species in Cyclobalanopsis glauca community in
karst mountain area. Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 2011, 20(8-9): 1209-1213.
[36] Zhou J. Seven Kinds of Bats Spatial Niche in Guizhou Province and the Study of Interspecific Relationships
[D]. Guiyang: Guizhou Normal University, 2001.
[37] Xia H B. Biomass and net primary production in different successional stages of karst vegetation in Maolan,
sw China. Guizhou Forestry Science and Technology, 2010, 28(2): 1-7.
[38] Liao Z Y, Wang M, Zhu J, Yi A J, Tan Z K, Wang K L. Effect of forage diversity on productivity, forage
chemical composition and soil nitrogen profile. Acta Agriculturae Boreali-Sinica, 2010, 25(S1): 243-249.
[39] Wang J, Meng J J, Cai Y L. Assessing vegetation dynamics impacted by climate change in the southwestern
karst region of China with AVHRR NDVI and AVHRR NPP time-series. Environmental Geology, 2008, 54(6):
1185-1195.
[40] Yu W L, Dong D, Ni J. Comparisons of biomass and net primary productivity of karst and non-karst forests in
mountainous areas, Southwestern China. Journal of Subtropical Resources and Environment, 2010, 5(2): 25-30.
[41] Dong D, Ni J. Modeling changes of net primary productivity of karst vegetation in southwestern China using
the CASA model. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 2011, 31(7): 1855-1866.
[42] Yu X Y, Li Y H. Characteristics of woody plant regeneration in karren-habitats successional plant
communities in Yunnan Shilin karst area of China. Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology, 2010, 34(8): 889-897.
[43] Deng X Q, Wang S J, Rong L. Utilization efficiency of different microhabitats by karst plants. Earth and
Environment, 2012, 40(1): 18-22.
[44] Liu Y J, Wang S J, Liu X M, Liu F. Soil microbial activities in different microhabitats of the Maolan national
nature reserve. Earth and Environment, 2011, 39(3): 285-291.
[45] Chen H, Fan Y L, Zhao Z C, Wang X P, Xue Z G, Zhou W L. Study on the geo-ecology of soil fauna in typical
karst area of Guizhou Province in China. Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin, 2011, 27(20): 208-215.
[46] Wei Y, Wang S J, Liu X M, Huang T Z. Genetic diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in karst
microhabitats of Guizhou Province, China. Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology, 2011, 35(10): 1083-1090.
[47] Brewer S W, Rejmánek M, Webb M A H, Fine P V A. Relationships of phytogeography and diversity of
tropical tree species with limestone topography in southern Belize. Journal of Biogeography, 2002, 30(11):
1669-1688.
[48] Yu G S, Wang S J, Rong L. Microclimate characteristics of different microhabitats in successional stages of
Maolan karst forest. Earth and Environment, 2011, 39(4): 469-477.
[49] Huang C B, Wei G F, Feng C L, Qin W G, Tan W N, Mo G D. Features of microclimate of typical karst forest
vegetation in northwestern Guangxi. Guangdong Agricultural Sciences, 2011, 38(21): 229-232.
[50] Wu K H, Xiong K N, Li P, Long M Z, Qu M X. Effects of microclimate under different rocky desertification
degrees by comprehensive treatment—A case study of the Huajiang gorge area, Guizhou. Earth and Environment,
2009, 37(4): 411-418.
[51] Li S, Ren H D, Yao X H, Zhang S G. Effects of land use type on diurnal dynamics of environment
microclimate in karst zone. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 2009, 20(2): 387-395.
[52] Hou M F, Jiang Z C. Species diversity of karst original forest in different geochemical environments in
Maolan. Ecology and Environment, 2006, 15(3): 572-576.
[53] Liu S J, Zhang W, Wang K L, Shu S Y, He X Y, Yang S, Pan F J. Soil urease activity during different
vegetation successions in karst peak-cluster depression area of northwest Guangxi, China. Acta Ecologica Sinica,
2011, 31(19): 5789-5796.
[54] Shu S Y, Wang K L, Zhang W, He X Y, Liu S J, Wei G F. Soil alkaline phosphatase activity at different
vegetation succession stages in karst peak-cluster depression. Chinese Joumal of Ecology, 2010, 29(9): 1722-1728.
[55] Zhang X, Zhu J, Cui Y C, Huo D, Wang L L, Wu P, Chen J, Pan D Q, Yang C H. Influence of fire on a Pinus
massoniana soil in a karst mountain area at the center of Guizhou Province, China. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 2011,
31(19): 5809-5817.
[56] Zou L L, Dao Z L, Long C L. Study on community forest resource management of the Zhuang nationality in
Southeast Yunnan of China. Journal of Plant Resources and Environment, 2009, 18(1): 67-73.
[57] Sauro U. Human impact on the karst of Venetian Fore-Alps, Italy. Environmental Geology, 1993, 21(3):
115-121.
[58] Wang J, Li Z, Bai Z K, Guo Y Q, Qiu J, Wang G R. Landscape ecological planning and design of land
consolidation in karst area: a case of land consolidation project in Libo, Guizhou. Progress in Geography, 2011,
30(7): 906-911.
[59] Chen H, Xiong K N, Liu Z B, Qiu J, Chen Y B, Xiao S Z, Yang H. Exploration of land consolidation based on
biodiversity protection in the hetou karst area. Earth and Environment, 2011, 39(4): 450-455.
[60] Fan Y L, Chen H, Xiong K N, Su X L, Han H Q. The diversity and litter decomposition function of soil fauna
community structure in zanthoxylun planispinum forestland——a case study of the Huajiang Gorge Area, Guizhou
Province. Earth and Environment, 2010, 38(3): 314-319.
[61] Du X L, Wang S J. Seasonal variations and responses to different rocky desertification degrees of foliar δ 13C
values of 5 local plant species in karst areas. Earth and Environment, 2010, 38(2): 129-137.
[62] Liu C C, Liu Y G, Guo K. Ecophysiological adaptations to drought stress of seedlings of four plant species
with different growth forms in karst habitats. Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology, 2011, 35(10): 1070-1082.
[63] Liu T, Zhou G H, and Dan X Q. Karst Rocky Desertification of China—Current Situation, Cause and
Formation, and Control. Beijing: Forestry Press of China, 2009: 189-202.
[64] Xiong K N, Li P, and Zhou Z F. Typical Research on Karst Rocky Desertification with RS and GIS with a
Special Reference to Guizhou Province. Beijing: Geological Publishing House, 2002: 23-28.
[65] Wang R, Cai Y L. Management modes of degraded ecosystem in southwest karst area of China. Chinese
Journal of Applied Ecology, 2010, 21(4): 1070-1080.
[66] Wang J F. Enclosure of the hillside for regeneration in the application of forest eco-engineering construction.
Forest Inventory and Planning, 2005, 30(3): 46-48.
[67] Zhou Z X, Mao Z Z, Yu L F, Ding G J, Xie S X, Nie C J, Cheng Z Q. The study on degraded land and its
vegetation restoration models of desertification in Guizhou. Guizhou Science, 2002, 20(1): 1-6.
[68] Ma Z P, Xie Z D. A review on vegetation restoration by natural succession of karst areas in South China.
Sichuan Forestry Exploration and Design, 2006, (1): 1-6.
[69] Mei Z M. On the developmental ways for returning farmland to woodland or grassland and water-saving
agro-forestry in the ecological fragile karst area of Guizhou. Carsologica Sinica, 2003, 22(4): 293-298.
[70] Song T Q, Peng W X, Zeng F P, Wang K L, Cao H L, Li X K, Qin W G, Tan W N, Liu L. Community
composition and biodiversity characteristics of forests in Karst cluster-peak-depression region. Biodiversity
Science, 2010, 18(4): 355-364.
[71] Zeng F P, Peng W X, Song T Q, Wang K L, Wu H Y, Song X J, Zeng Z X. Changes in vegetation after 22
years’ natural restoration in the karst disturbed area in Northwest Guangxi. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 2007, 27(12):
5110-5119.
[72] Wu K H, Xiong K N, Rong L, Long M Z. Characteristics of the process of vegetation restoration under
different rocky desertification degrees by comprehensive treatment—a case study of the huajiang gorge area,
Guizhou province. Earth and Environment, 2007, 35(4): 327-335.
[73] Wang X P, Xiong K N, Chen H, Zhao J. The study on functional groups of soil animals of rocky
desertification in Guizhou karst plateau valley. Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin, 2012, 28(5): 252-257.
[74] Cao Z P, Zhong X D. Global biodiversity monitoring and its progress. Chinese Biodiversity, 1997, 5(2):
157-159.
[75] Watson R T, Heywood H V, Baste I, Dias B, Gámez R, Reid W, Ruark G. Global Biodiversity Assessment:
Summary for Policy-Makers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995: 1-46.
[76] Noss R F. Indicators for monitoring biodiversity: a hierarchical approach. Conservation Biology, 1990, 4(4):
355-364.
[77] Zhang P P, Hu Y M, Xiao D N, Li X Z, Yin J. Influences of topographic on change of potential rocky
desertification landscape pattern in karst plateau mountain. Chinese Journal of Soil Science, 2010, 41(6):
1305-1310.
[78] Xu J Y, Hu Y C, Wang H Y. Landscape patterns of rocky desertification land in karst region of Guangxi
Zhuang autonomous region in recent 10 years. Bulletin of Soil and Water Conservation, 2012, 32(1): 181-184.
[79] Lü H M, An Y L, Yang G B, Zhao H B. Fractal research on karst area CBERS02 vegetation degree of
coverage——Taking Guizhou Bijie prefecture as an example. Journal of Guizhou Normal University: Natural
Sciences, 2009, 27(2): 34-39.
[80] Yang Q Q, Wang K L. The relationship of rocky desertification and soil type based on RS and GIS in
Northwest Guangxi. Chinese Journal of Soil Science, 2010, 41(5): 30-36.
[81] Zhang X N, Wang K L, Zhang M Y, Zhang W, Fan F D. Gradient analysis of landscape pattern in karst area
under effects of anthropogenic activities. Resources and Environment in the Yangtze Basin, 2009, 18(12):
1187-1192.
[82] Shen Y X, Liu W Y, Cui J W. Species-area relationships of soil seed bank in karst forest in central Yunnan,
China. Journal of Plant Ecology, 2007, 31(1): 50-55.
[83] Zhang Z H. Ecological Research on Population and Community Stability in karst Forest Vegetation [D].
Shanghai: East China Normal University, 2011: 52-143.
[84] Liang S C. Fractal characteristics of distribution pattern of Carpinus pubescens population. Journal of Wuhan
Botanical Research, 2011, 19(4): 263-268.
[85] Si B, Yao X H, Ren H D, Li S, He B H. Species diversity in the process of vegetation succession in Karst Area
in Western Guangxi, China. Journal of Southwest University: Natural Science Edition, 2008, 30(3): 113-118.
[86] Wang Z, Zhang J C, Wang R Y, Wang D S, Meng L, Yan S F. Species composition and diversity in the process
of natural vegetation succession in Huajiang Karst valley. China Forestry Science and Technology, 2010, 24(6):
48-51.
[87] Zhang W, Zhang J L, Mo B T, An M T, Wang P C, Zhang J B. The plant community species quantity trait and
diversity analysis of the Karst mountain grassland. Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 2011, 20(5): 849-854.
[88] He R K, Wang J, Huang H W. Isolation of novel microsatellite loci for Handeliodendron bodinieri
(Sapindaceae), an endangered tree endemic to karst forest in Southwestern China. Journal of Tropical and
Subtropical Botany, 2011, 19(6): 493-498.
[89] Peng Z H. Research on the morphology, physiological and diversity formation of specific maize germplasm in
karst high elevation area. Journal of Maize Sciences, 2010, 18(2): 45-49.
[90] Peng Z H, Zhang M S, Qiu H B, Xu R H, Gao X, Gu J C, Dai B W. Analysis on genetic diversity of maize
backbone inbred lines in Karst High Elevation Mountainous Area by RAPD markers. Journal of Plant Genetic
Resources, 2005, 6(2): 140-144.
[91] Peng Z H, Zhang M S, Gao X, Xu R H, Qiu H B, Gu J C, Wang G Z. Study on genetic diversity of KASITE
high elevation mountain area location maize inbred lines By RAPD markers, China. Seed, 2005, 24(2): 20-23.
[92] Wang Y S, Hong F Z, Jiang W L, Wang K. Responses of Trifolium pratense mixed communities to long-term
moderate grazing in Karst region. Ecology and Environment, 2007, 16(1): 117-124.
[93] Li L, Wang Y S, Hong F Z. Study on morphological and genetic diversity of Trifolium repens in Karst region.
Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 2010, 19(7): 1532-1536.
[94] He X Y, Su Y R, Liang Y M, Yang S, Wang K L. Soil microbial diversity in typical Karst peak-cluster
depression under effects of different de-faming patterns. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 2010, 21(2):
317-324.