Abstract:

Protected plants usually have high utilization value or a small population size， and are the plant groups facing the highest survival threat， and are also one of the focus objects of biodiversity conservation. Based on the systematic survey of key protected wild plants in Wenshan Prefecture， the abundance and geographic distribution of them were analyzed， and the weights were determined by using four indicators， including endangerment coefficient， genetic value coefficient， protection coefficient， and utilization value coefficient， and then the integrated value of priority protection for these plants were calculated， and the different levels of priority protection to species were classified. The results showed that the387 species of wild plants were identified under priority protection in Wenshan Prefecture， including 36 species under national-level priority protection， 259 species at the second level， 24 species under priority protection at the second level in Yunnan Province， and 78 species at the third level， respectively. Orchidaceae family accounted for 38%（112 species） of the wild plants under national-level priority protection， was an important protected taxon in Wenshan Prefecture. From the horizontal distribution level， Malipo， Maguan and Xichou Counties in the south had high species richness with 228， 224， and 200 species， respectively. On the other hand， Guangnan， Qubei and Yanshan Counties in the north-central part had lower species richness with 87， 68 and 52 species， respectively. In terms of vertical distribution， the elevation range of 1 301 to 1 500 m was the most concentrated area for wild key protected plants. Therefore， biodiversity protection efforts should focus on the southern region and areas with an altitude of 1 301 to 1 500 m. The combined value of priority protection ranged from 0.372 to 0.940， resulting in 39 species classified as Class Ⅰ， 142 species as Class Ⅱ， 123 species as Class Ⅲ， and 83 species as Class Ⅳ. Eight species， including Begonia gulinqingensis， Camellia fascicularis， Horsfieldia tetratepala， Cymbidium qiubeiense， Camellia crassicolumna var. multiplex， Dysosma pleiantha and Cypripedium henryi， were not listed as threatened species in the “China Biodiversity Red List-Higher Plants Volume（2020）”， but were assessed as Class Ⅰ Priority Conservation due to their small number of distribution individuals， and significant human disturbance and high conservation value. These species should be considered urgent targets for rescue and protection.

Key words: Wenshan Prefecture, key protected wild plants, geographic distribution, priority protection level