Abstract: A method of estimating the terrestrial biodiversity enrichment using topographical and water-energy indexes were proposed at a large scale based on the biogeography theory,the degree of surface roughness and relief was selected as the topographical indices and the annual average temperature,relative air humidity and precipitation were taken as the water-energy indices.With the richest wildlife species in China,Yunnan Province was chosen as the study area and the terrestrial biodiversity enrichment caused by terrains,water and energy was assessed.At the species diversity level,the result tests were carried out using the zonal mean statistical and visual interpretation methods in the different scales of natural reserve,county,and province respectively.The estimation of terrestrial biodiversity enrichment could be specified to one mountain area by using spatial continuity to represent the biodiversity enrichment.The spatial distribution of terrestrial biodiversity enrichment in Yunnan showed significant regional characteristics,where high enrichment areas were in longitudinal range-gorge region,the southeast part of Wenshan in Southeast Yunnan,and Wumeng mountain area in Northeast Yunnan,while the plateaus and plains in central Yunnan showed low biodiversity.In the sampling reserves,the changing tendency of the estimated enrichment was basically consistent with the change of recorded species numbers.In the areas with low biodiversity,the estimated enrichment by the spatial pattern under county scale conformed to the number of species from the species survey of the county over the province.In the areas with high biodiversity,the estimation agreed well with the vegetation distribution in Landsat TM images.Thus for the regions without reliable biological information,it is no doubt that the method can provide at least the theoretical description of the biodiversity.