Abstract: Plant species diversity is crucial for maintaining the structure and function of wetlands. Changes of wetland soil may affect vegetation type and biodiversity. To gain a deeper understanding of the current state of plant species diversity in the wetlands of the Hanzhong Crested Ibis National Nature Reserve in Shaanxi Province and the effects of soil physicochemical properties on wetland plant diversity under different disturbance intensities, we conducted a field survey of plants and soil during the peak period of plant growth from July to August 2022. The importance value (IV) was used to identify the dominant species in the reserve. Species diversity was assessed using the Patrick abundance index, Pielou evenness index, Shannon index, and Simpson index. Additionally, key soil physicochemical properties, such as total carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, organic matter, pH, moisture content, and salinity, were measured. The results showed that there were 82 plant species, belonging to 61 genera of 30 families, mainly herbaceous plants. The core area and the buffer zone demonstrated higher diversity values in the Shannon and Simpson indices, while differences in the Pielou index across the entire study area were not significant. Overall, the correlation between plant species diversity and soil physicochemical properties in the sampling sites was weak.

Key words: Crested Ibis National Nature Reserve, wetland plant, species diversity, anthropogenic interference