Abstract: To explore the plant community characteristics and species diversity of meadow steppe of the national photovoltaic and energy storage empirical experimental platform in Datong District, Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, and to examine the influence of different habitats of photovoltaic electric field (between photovoltaic panels and under photovoltaic panels) on plant communities, we conducted a quadrat survey to investigate plant community characteristics. The differences of species composition and importance values, quantitative characteristics of community and species diversity were compared under and between photovoltaic panels. The results showed that species with the highest importance value in the photovoltaic field was Leymus chinensis, followed by Puccinellia tenuiflora. The plant community quantitative characteristic values of L. chinensis, P. tenuiflora, Phragmites australis, Suaeda salsa, and Eleocharis intersita in the habitat between photovoltaic panels were higher than those of under photovoltaic panels, and that of Potentilla anserina under photovoltaic panels was higher than that between photovoltaic panels. Shannon index, Margalef index and Simpson index of the community between photovoltaic panels were higher than those under photovoltaic panels. There was a significant positive correlation (P<0.05) among Shannon index, Margalef index, and Simpson index. Pielou index was non-significantly negatively correlated with the other three indices. The correlation coefficient between Simpson index and Margalef index was the highest. The values of most plant community quantitative characteristic were higher in the habitats between the photovoltaic panels than that under the photovoltaic panels, with higher species richness and more stable community structure in the habitats between the photovoltaic panels.

Key words: meadow steppe, photovoltaic field, community characteristics, community diversity