Abstract: Four most attracting hypotheses, i.e. species-energy hypothesis, historical hypothesis, mid-domain effect hypothesis, and Rapoport’s rule, are elaborated. It is believed that they do explain the species richness pattern to a certain extent, however further studies need to be done to improve their university for different areas. Brsodes, common methodology and techniques used in the study on species richness patterns and factors influencing distribution of species richness are summarized and at the end prospects for the study on species richness patterns in China are presented, in the hope that they may serve as references for decision-makers in plotting regional conservation strategies for bio-species resources.

Key words: species, richness pattern, hypothesis, method, model, influencing factor