Features and plant diversity of alpine meadow communities in different edge regions of QinghaiTibetan Plateau

A field survey in Maqu and Tianzhu Counties was conducted to determine the features and plant diversity of alpine meadow communities in northeast and east edge regions of QinghaiTibetan Plateau by calculating and diversity index and measuring community structure and aboveground biomass. Results showed that the dominant plants in the northeast and east regions were Korea capillifolia The community height and corerage in the east region were bigger than those of northeast regions. The vertical structure of alpine meadow was double layers in east and northeast regions. The richness index of alpine meadow communities and significantly difference between northeast region and east region，and evenness index of alpine meadow communities in east region was significantly bigger than that in the northeast region (P0.05). The diversity index of alpine meadow communities in east region was bigger than that in northeast regions. The diversity index of alpine meadow communities in east region was significantly bigger than that in northeast region (P0.05). The aboveground biomass of alpine meadow communities in east region was bigger than that in northeast region. This study indicated that the alpine meadow at the different regions showed an obvious differentiation in community features，plant diversity and primary productivity. It was suggested that grassland management measurements should be tailored by local requirement to maintain stable productivity and conserve the biodiversity of alpine meadow in QinghaiTibetan Plateau.