Abstract: Management mode has important effects on the meadow community structure and diversity. Taking the National Hongsongwa Natural Reserve as test site, a comparative study was made on the responses of meadow community structure and diversity in the experimental area, buffer area, and core area to different management modes. The community coverage in the experimental area was significantly higher than that in the buffer and core areas (P<0.05), but the community height had less difference. The community density in the core area was significantly larger than that in the experimental and buffer areas (P<0.05), and the litter amount had significant differences among the three areas (P<0.05). The aboveground biomass in the experimental area was significantly lower than that in the buffer and core areas (P<0.05), while the underground biomass in the core area was significantly higher than that in the experimental and buffer areas (P<0.05). In the three areas, underground biomass was mainly distributed in the 0-10 cm soil layer, and decreased with soil depth. In the experimental and core areas, plant roots were mainly distributed in surface soil, but the relative depth differed. In the experimental and buffer areas, dominant species were more in number; while in the core area, dominant species were fewer and presented a concentrated distribution. The Shannon index was in the order of buffer area > experimental area > core area, while the Margalef index was in the sequence of buffer area > core area > experimental area.

Key words: Carya cathayensis, soil greenhouse gas, understory removal, water soluble organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon.