Abstract: Subsidence is one of the most serious forms of coal mining process on environment, which directly and indirectly affects plant species distribution and community structure. In this study, we investigated the characteristics of plant community in different types of coal mining subsidence in Bin-hang mining area to understand the responses of plant community to coal mining subsidence and underlying mechanisms. The results showed that families in Bin-hang mining area were mainly Compositae, Gramineae, and Legumes, the main plant growth forms were perennial herb, and the water ecological type was dominated by meso-erophytes. Disturbance of mining subsidence increased proportions of annual grass, perennial herbs and meso-erophytes, decreased the proportion of mesophytes, but had no effect on the proportion of shrubs and trees. The disturbance of surface crevasse in the tableland area did not cause significant change in plant community structure, but the number of species, coverage, biomass, species density and biodiversity index of plant community were significantly lower in stepped subsidence area and surface crevasse area at ravine edge. According to the damage of plant communities, the subsidences in Bin-hang mining area could be divided into three types: slightly damaged area, including surface crevasse in tableland area; medium damage area, including stepped subsidence area in tableland area and surface crevasse area at ravine edge; strong damage area, including stepped subsidence area at ravine edge.

Key words: simulated acid rain, N and P mineralization, Camellia sinensis, rhizosphere effect, hilly red soil region.