Changes in the understory diversity of secondary Pinus tabulaeformis forests are the result of stand density and soil properties

Zhang, Yunxiang; Liu, Tairui; Jin, Guo; Tan, Zhijie; Dong, Wenjie

doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01628

Cited by 30 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Several authors have provided evidence of links between low soil C:N ratio and greater plant diversity, depending on land use [41,73]. In our case, this tendency was subtle.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 45%

Effects of Afforestation on Plant Diversity and Soil Quality in Semiarid SE Spain

Segura

Jiménez

Ondoño

et al. 2021

Forests

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Farmland afforestation has been promoted in recent decades and is one of the main strategies included in the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to recover degraded areas. However, the impacts of afforestation on plant diversity and soil quality indicators are still not well-understood in semiarid environments. In this study, we assessed the relationships between plant diversity indicators (abundance, total richness, richness by functional groups, and Shannon diversity) and a large number of variables in 48 afforestation sites in southeast Spain. We considered associated environmental factors, such as geographical, climatic or edaphic variables, age, and land-use history. We compared plant diversity and soil properties following land-use change from cereal cropping to afforestation, which is one of the most common land-use changes in Mediterranean areas. Plant diversity in afforested sites was found to be dependent on previous land use, the proximity of natural vegetation, several soil properties (texture, pH, and total nitrogen), and plantation age. Afforested soils showed higher plant diversity and an improvement in edaphic parameters related to multifunctionality in semiarid ecosystems (i.e., soil organic carbon, nitrogen, and potassium) than arable cropped soils.

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“…Several authors have provided evidence of links between low soil C:N ratio and greater plant diversity, depending on land use [41,73]. In our case, this tendency was subtle.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 45%

Effects of Afforestation on Plant Diversity and Soil Quality in Semiarid SE Spain

Segura

Jiménez

Ondoño

et al. 2021

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Soil moisture mainly affected vegetation density by affecting soil clay content, which in turn affected vegetation biomass and coverage [39]. The decrease of soil clay content and the increase of sand content were not conducive to the maintenance of soil moisture and nutrients as well as the growth of vegetation roots, thus affecting the growth of vegetation [40,41]. The decrease of soil moisture content drove the decrease of soil organic carbon (C) and total N content, which led to the decrease of vegetation density and biomass [42].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Features of Plant Community and Driving Forces of Plant Community Succession in the Typical Desert Wetlands

et al. 2022

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Desert wetlands play a significant role in flood regulation, water purification, biodiversity maintenance, and regional ecological environment improvement. Vegetation is a key factor affecting wetland function and it is important to study the features of plant community and the driving forces of plant community succession. The Ningxia Habahu National Nature Reserve, a typical desert wetland ecosystem, was selected to study the features of wetland plant communities including plant density, biomass and frequency, and vegetation coverage, as well as the habitats, structural characteristics, species composition, dominant population structure, and other characteristics of different ecosystems. Data was collected using long-term fixed-point observation, sampling monitoring, and other methods. The results showed that the total plant density, total biomass, Magalef index and Shannon–Wiener index of the different desert wetlands in the reserve area were all relatively low, which was caused by the poor habitat and salinization of the arid environment. There was no significant difference between the root–shoot ratio of the wetland plants in the reserve area and that of the construct species of other ecosystems. The specific leaf area of the wetland plants was also not significantly different from that of the construct species of other ecosystems. Vegetation nitrogen-to-phosphorus (N/P) ratios were found to be the key driving force for the succession of plant community in the desert wetlands. These results not only provide underlying insights for the improvement of species diversity and ecological environment, but also provide a scientific basis for the sustainable protection and restoration of typical desert wetlands.

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“…The amount of light reaching the understory is one of the most important limiting factors affecting the species of understory plants (Kirby, 1988;Van Calster et al, 2008;Márialigeti et al, 2016;Shi et al, 2021), which determines the coverage, diversity and species composition of undergrowth vegetation. Many studies have shown that improved understory light conditions caused by increased canopy openness can improve plant diversity, especially in the herbaceous layer (Lee et al, 1997;Beaudet and Messier, 2002;Vesala et al, 2005;Ligot et al, 2014;Wang et al, 2017;Ádám et al, 2018;Wan and He, 2020;Shi et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021;Su et al, 2022). Theoretically, the effects of light on vegetation are complex because the abundance or diversity of understory vegetation does not necessarily correlate positively with light availability.…”

Section: Effect Of Light and Soil Environment On Understory Species D...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Thinning can increase shrub diversity and decrease herb diversity by regulating light and soil environments

Jian

Zhang

et al. 2022

Front. Plant Sci.

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Tree thinning affects the light environment, which in turn affects the growth and survival of understory vegetation, thus improving species diversity and nutrient cycling, as well as the ecological habitat factors. However, the response of understory vegetation to the thinning intensity and short-time effects in the temperate broadleaf-conifer mixed forest is not completely clear. In this study, four permanent plots with a total area of 4 hm2 were established in a mixed broadleaf-conifer forest in northeast China, with thinning intensities of 20% (light thinning, LT), 35% (medium thinning, MT), 55% (heavy thinning, HT) and the unthinned plot (CK), respectively, in accordance with the basal area. The responses of species diversity to changes in understory vegetation were conducted by a structural equation model (SEM). The results showed that compared with CK, thinning significantly increased the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and the light quality (R/FR) (p < 0.05), while decreased the contents of soil total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorous (TP), organic matter (OM), nitrate nitrogen (NN), ammonia nitrogen (AN) and pH. The degree of fragmentation of light factors among the treatment plots gradually decreased as thinning intensity increased. Among all the thinning treatments, PAR and R/FR were found to be the optimal light condition when the forest thinning intensity was 55%. The light condition was found to have a significant negative correlation with soil TN, TP, OM, and AN. While the soil nutrients were positively correlated with herbaceous layer diversity but negatively correlated with shrub layer diversity. The soil nutrients were lost after thinning in a short time and herb diversity decreased, but shrub diversity increased significantly compared with unthinned plots. For the understory vegetation, the species diversity of shrub and herb layer were showed to be more sensitive to soil nutrients than light environment.

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Changes in the understory diversity of secondary Pinus tabulaeformis forests are the result of stand density and soil properties

Cited by 30 publications

References 57 publications

Effects of Afforestation on Plant Diversity and Soil Quality in Semiarid SE Spain

Effects of Afforestation on Plant Diversity and Soil Quality in Semiarid SE Spain

Features of Plant Community and Driving Forces of Plant Community Succession in the Typical Desert Wetlands

Thinning can increase shrub diversity and decrease herb diversity by regulating light and soil environments

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