Abstract:The arid valley of the upper reaches of the Minjiang River is located in the transition zone between the Qinghai-Tibet plateau to the Sichuan Basin. It has a typical arid valley climate with complex topography and variable water and heat conditions. A long history of anthropogenic influences combined with severe natural environments resulted in degraded vegetations dominated by xeric shrubs. The objective of this study was to relate the plant community species turn over rates to their environments to provi...