Abstract: The participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) method was applied to study the variations of species and landscape in Mengyang Nature Reserve of Xishuangbanna, which shows that under human disturbance, the tree species with lower resistance were gradually decreased and disappeared, and replaced by the species with higher resistance, resulting in a replacement of dominated vegetation. Hunting, especially the hunting of residents from the surroundings, is the direct cause of the disappearance of big size wild animals in the reserve.The indigenous people, being familiar with the habits, characteristics and habitats of wildlife, are the better information sources for the study of wildlife. Variations in landscape are closely related to economic development. Some landscapes become worse for the economic development, while others are improved due to the participatory conservation by the indigenous people.The disadvantages of the application of PRAmethod in the study of species and landscape variations are also discussed.

Key words: Participatory rural appraisal, Species, Landscape variation, loss of net primary productivity, quantitative assessment, act net primary productivity, human activity, relative contribution index