Abstract: Twenty-eight bryophyte taxa in 17 genera of 10 families from Xinlu Carlin gold field were investigated. Nine species belong to Pottiaceae and 8 species belong to Bryaceae. Among them, Pottiaceae and Bryaceae are the dominate families. By analyzing β diversity of four sites in this area, we found that β diversity difference between barren rock field-waste residue field and relatively polluted area-clear area is the largest, bryophyte community structure is the biggest difference, and similarity is the lowest. A particular regularity was proved by monitoring 6 kinds of heavy metals Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd, Hg, As of bryophytes and their substrates from different areas in Xinlu Carlin gold deposit, that is waste residue field>barren rock field>relatively polluted area>clear area. It might be closely related to the mining and smelting. Obviously, further researches on bryophytes can be used to monitor the pollution of heavy metals in gold deposits.

Key words: Bryophyte, Biodiversity, Carlin gold deposit, heavy metal, pollution monitoring