Effect of Plateau Zokor (Myospalax fontanierii) Disturbance on Plant Community Structure and Soil Properties in the Eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China

Chu, Bin; Ye, Guohui; Yang, Siwei; Zhou, Fufei; Zhang, Feiyu; Zhou, Jianwei; Hua, Limin

doi:10.1016/j.rama.2020.02.004

Cited by 27 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, we know little about densities that optimize the ecosystem value of soil-disturbing animals, and this requires studies of ecosystem functions under different densities, often using experimental approaches [11] and predictive models (table 1). Though disturbances may increase plant diversity, herbivory could result in compensatory reductions in biomass [19,22] depending on the levels of disturbance [23][24]. Indeed, excessive disturbance (e.g.…”

Section: Soil Disturbance Enhances Biodiversity and Productivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Rewilding soil-disturbing vertebrates to rehabilitate degraded landscapes: benefits and risks

Eldridge

Soliveres

2023

Biol. Lett.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Soil-disturbing animals are common globally and play important roles in creating and maintaining healthy functional soils and landscapes. Yet many of these animals are threatened or locally extinct due to habitat loss, predation by non-native animals or poaching and poisoning. Some reintroduction and rewilding programmes have as their core aims to increase animal populations and reinstate processes that have been lost due to their extirpation. Here we use a meta-analytical approach to review the effects of soil-disturbing vertebrates on ecosystem processes, and advance the argument that they can be used to rehabilitate degraded ecosystems by altering mainly composition and function, but with fewer positive effects on structure. We describe four examples where the loss or reintroduction of soil-disturbing vertebrates leads to ecosystem state changes and highlight the role of spatial scale, covarying management changes, and species co-occurrence in modulating their effects. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using soil-disturbing vertebrates over mechanized engineering approaches such as pitting and furrowing, considering some advantages to include more self-sustainable and heterogeneous disturbances, creation of new habitats and added recreational values. Finally, we identify key knowledge gaps in our understanding of the use of soil-disturbing vertebrates for rehabilitating degraded ecosystems.

show abstract

Section: Soil Disturbance Enhances Biodiversity and Productivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Rewilding soil-disturbing vertebrates to rehabilitate degraded landscapes: benefits and risks

Eldridge

Soliveres

2023

Biol. Lett.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The ability of plateau pikas to survive relies on the timely discovery of the existence of risk, making quick and effective strategies, and regulating the time and energy allocation of different behaviors. The plateau pika has become an important part of the alpine meadow grassland ecosystem on the QTP because of its fast reproduction and strong adaptability [ 37 ], which has had multiple impacts on the grassland ecosystem. The rapid growth of plateau pika populations has broken the original ecological balance, resulting in the fragmentation of the grassland landscape and a decline in grassland productivity [ 38 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alarm Calling in Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae): Evidence from Field Observations and Simulated Predator and Playback Experiments

Hua

Bao

et al. 2023

Animals

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Acoustic communication plays a vital role in passing or sharing information between individuals. Identifying the biological meaning of vocal signals is crucial in understanding the survival strategies of animals. However, there are many challenges in identifying the true meaning of such signals. The plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is a call-producing mammal endemic to the Qinghai–Tibet plateau (QTP) and considered a keystone species owing to its multiple benefits in alpine rangeland ecosystems. Previous studies have shown that plateau pikas emit alarm calls as part of their daily activities. However, only field observations have been used to identify these alarm calls of the plateau pika, with no attempts at using playback experiments. Here, we report the alarm calling of plateau pikas through field observations as well as simulated predator and playback experiments in the Eastern QTP from 2021 to 2022. We found that both female and male adults emitted alarm calls, the signals of which comprised only one syllable, with a duration of 0.1–0.3 s. There were no differences in the characteristics between the observed alarm calls and those made in response to the simulated predator. The duration of the alarm call response varied with altitude, with plateau pikas living at higher altitudes responding at shorter durations than those at lower altitudes.

show abstract

“…The plant IV was used to define species dominance (Chu et al, 2020):

IV = \frac{relative coverage + relative height + relative mass}{3},

where relative coverage is the cover of that species divided by the total cover of all species. The relative height and mass are calculated similarly to that for the relative coverage.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant litter predicts the changing trajectories of plant communities following grazing exclusion

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Litter decomposition is a key component of global biogeochemical cycles that affects the availability of soil nutrients for plant productivity. Significant variations in litter decomposability between plant taxa are attributed to diverse functional traits including litter quality, plant nutrient production, and nutrient resorption efficiency which should influence the ecological fitness of plants in the community. However, no reports to date have explored the relationships between litter decomposition and plant community dynamics, that is, plant succession and interspecific competition. We conducted a litter decomposition experiment that focused on 21 plant species in an alpine meadow. The litter decomposition rates of these species were compared with their initial litter quality and nutrient use efficiencies to examine whether the plant litter indicators of the community structures were altered following grazing exclusion. We found that among these 21 plant species, those with higher nutrient use efficiencies had a lower litter decomposition rate. Meanwhile, lower decomposition rates were correlated with higher plant importance values, and this correlation became stronger over time in plant communities following grazing exclusion, except for dominant species. Our results suggested that litter decomposability can be used to predict the changing trajectories of plant communities following grazing exclusion, except for dominant species.

show abstract

Effect of Plateau Zokor (Myospalax fontanierii) Disturbance on Plant Community Structure and Soil Properties in the Eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China

Cited by 27 publications

References 33 publications

Rewilding soil-disturbing vertebrates to rehabilitate degraded landscapes: benefits and risks

Rewilding soil-disturbing vertebrates to rehabilitate degraded landscapes: benefits and risks

Alarm Calling in Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae): Evidence from Field Observations and Simulated Predator and Playback Experiments

Plant litter predicts the changing trajectories of plant communities following grazing exclusion

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About