Plant Diversity ›› 1999, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (04): 1-3.

• Articles •    

Re-examination of the Biological Effect of Plate Movement——Impact of Shan- Malay Plate Displacement (the Movment of Burma- Malaya Geoblock) on the Biota of the Gaoligong Mountains

LI Heng,HE Da-Ming,Bruce Bartholomew,LONG Chun-Lin   

  1. Kunmig Institute of Botany ,The Chinese Academy of Sciences ,kunming 650204;California Academy of Sciences,San Francisco,CA 94118-4599,USA
  • Online:1999-08-25 Published:1999-08-25

Abstract: This paper is developed from the previous pubication,Biological Effect of Shan-Malay Plate Displacement(the Movement of Burma-Malaya Geoblock) on Dulong River Flora(published in this journal in 1994.After more than four years of careful dtudy,we have expanded the scope to some of the flora and fauna of the Gaoligong Mountains and then to the biota of the East Himalayas and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.The results from this re-examination of the biological effects of plate movement indicate that plate displacement had a series of isolating geographical effects on the occurrence,evolution,and distribution of the flora and fauna in this region ,resulting in the Gaoligong Mountains vecoming an area with a distinct and divers biota which is ancestral to the biota of the East Himalayas.

Key words: Plate movement, Biological effect, Shan-Malay Plate, Gaoligong Mountains