Chin J Plan Ecolo ›› 1995, Vol. 19 ›› Issue (1): 13-22.

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Characteristics of Element Contents in Plant Species of the Karakorum and Kunlun Mountains

Kong Ling-shao, Li Bo-sheng, Guo Ke, Ma Mao-hua   

  • Published:1995-01-10
  • Contact: Chen Xiao-yong

Abstract: We discussed the characteristics of the contents of 12 elements (K, Na, Ca,Mg, Ba, Sr, Be, Fe, V, Ti, Mn, Al) in 87 plant species collected from Karakorum and Kunlun Mountains. The average contents of K and Ca were higher than 10000 ppm; Na, Mg, Fe and Al ranged between 800 and 5000 ppm;V and Be were less than 10 ppm. The Fe, V and Be contents in the plants were higher than the average of the terrestrial plants. The K contents in different plant species showed a pattern of normal distribution. while other elements tended to represent lognormal distributions. Plant species differed greatly in the contents of the elements. indicated by using the coefficient of variation (C.V. %). Na had the highest C.V. among species. while K and Ca had the lowest. The same plant species collected from different habitats also demonstrated great difference so did the different plant species for instance, Stipa purpurea>Ceratoides compacta>Saussurea gnaphaloides. The analysis of correlations between elements in different plant species indicated that the correlations between Al and V, Fe and V, Ti and Al et al., were statistically significant. The classification and ordination of the 22 plant species using TWINSPAN and DCA methods suggest that these plant species can be classified as Na and K type plants. and Fe, V, Al and Ba type plants, respectively, based on the contents of 12 elements in the plant tissue.