Spatial Pattern of Plant Specimen and Its Implications in Conservation Biology in Hengduan Mountains of Southwest China

2 Foundation: This study was supported by Scientific Foundation of Yunnan (2010CD077) Corresponding author: Feng jian-meng, E-mail: [email protected] Abstract. In the past, the spatial patterns of specimen have not been paid enough attention. In this study, we probed the spatial pattern of plant specimen and its implications in conservation biology in Hengduan Mountains, one of the hotspots of global biodiversity, based on the dataset extracted from Chinese Virtual Herbarium. The results showed that there were big differences of specimen density among the units of the studied area. High specimen density was mainly found in the boundary regions of Northwest Yunnan, Southwest Sichuan and Southeast Tibet, the central part and the southern part of the studied area. The interest of the collectors or botanists was mainly focused on the units with low population density (low disturbance of human activity) and high complexity of topography. With the increase of specimen density, an increasing trend of species density was observed. Most of the units studied were not paid enough attention in the history of specimen collection. If we collected specimen at higher density in blank or marginalized area, we may have much more chances to find more taxonomies. The spatial pattern of specimen density may shape our understanding of the spatial pattern of specie diversity. We should not only inherit specimen from our predecessors, but also, we should probe into specimen repositories to understand biodiversity status and its spatial pattern.