Grazing increases functional richness but not functional divergence in Tibetan alpine meadow plant communities

Niu, Kechang; He, Jin‐Sheng; Zhang, Shiting; Lechowicz, Martin J.

doi:10.1007/s10531-015-0960-2

Cited by 56 publications

(52 citation statements)

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“…Trade-offs in the responses within a suite of traits can create approximately equal performance at the whole plant level and hence a low value for change in functional diversity (Shipley et al, 2006). These results are consistent with many recent observations that the response of functional diversity to fertilization and grazing are relatively stable (Niu et al, 2015;Li et al, 2015a), and they highlight the potential complexity of community responses to environmental change.…”

Section: Responses Of Aboveground Community Composition and Functionasupporting

confidence: 89%

“…A growing body of evidence has shown that functional diversity is directly linked with ecosystem processes (McGill et al, 2006;Flynn et al, 2011). However, recent studies have shown that environmental disturbance (e.g., fertilization or grazing) does not influence functional diversity (Li et al, 2015a;Niu et al, 2015), and functional traits of species may be more important than functional diversity in influencing ecosystem processes in an alpine meadow community (Li et al, 2015a).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Community-weighted mean traits but not functional diversity determine the changes in soil properties during wetland drying on the Tibetan Plateau

Epstein

Wen

et al. 2017

Solid Earth

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Abstract. Climate change and human activities have caused a shift in vegetation composition and soil biogeochemical cycles of alpine wetlands on the Tibetan Plateau. The primary goal of this study was to test for associations between community-weighted mean (CWM) traits, functional diversity, and soil properties during wetland drying. We collected soil samples and investigated the aboveground vegetation in swamp, swamp meadow, and typical meadow environments. Four CWM trait values (specific leaf area is SLA, leaf dry matter content is LDMC, leaf area is LA, and mature plant height is MPH) for 42 common species were measured across the three habitats; three components of functional diversity (functional richness, functional evenness, and functional divergence) were also quantified at these sites. Our results showed that the drying of the wetland dramatically altered plant community and soil properties. There was a significant correlation between CWM of traits and soil properties, but not a significant correlation between functional diversity and soil properties. Our results further showed that CWM-LA, CWM-SLA, and CWM-LDMC had positive correlations with soil readily available nutrients (available nitrogen, AN; available phosphorus, AP), but negative correlations with total soil nutrients (soil organic carbon is SOC, total nitrogen is TN, and total phosphorus is TP). Our study demonstrated that simple, quantitative plant functional traits, but not functional diversity, are directly related to soil C and N properties, and they likely play an important role in plant-soil interactions. Our results also suggest that functional identity of species may be more important than functional diversity in influencing ecosystem processes during wetland drying.

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Section: Responses Of Aboveground Community Composition and Functionasupporting

confidence: 89%

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confidence: 99%

Community-weighted mean traits but not functional diversity determine the changes in soil properties during wetland drying on the Tibetan Plateau

Epstein

Wen

et al. 2017

Solid Earth

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“…Second, recent general studies in Chinese rangelands document an enrichment of soil nitrogen and increasing productivity (Peng et al, 2011;Shen et al, 2015) and an associated decline in soil available phosphorus (Hong et al, 2014;Yang et al, 2014b). Third, grazing has been shown to depress productivity and favor infrequent species through niche differentiation (Niu et al, 2015a(Niu et al, , 2015b. Fourth, the Chinese rangelands have high root biomass and plant phosphorus content in common species (He et al, 2008), increasingly so in recent decades (Mi et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tradeoffs between forage quality and soil fertility: Lessons from Himalayan rangelands

Niu

Zhang

et al. 2016

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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A B S T R A C TPastoralists on Eurasian rangeland often believe that traditional management practices involving moderate rotational grazing ensure sustainable yield, increase plant digestibility and promote biodiversity. To assess the generality of these suppositions we compared biomass production, community leaf C, N and P stoichiometry, leaf trait diversity and carbon and nutrient pools in root and soil for moderately grazed vs. ungrazed plots in Tibetan alpine meadows. We used five leaf traits (leaf C, leaf N and leaf P concentrations; SLA: specific leaf area, and LDMC: leaf dry matter content) as indicators of plant digestibility and rangeland quality. We measured these foliar traits and the ramet numbers for component species in moderately grazed plots as well as in exclosures (3-11 years) at five sites across the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. Community weighted mean (CWM) trait values and functional dispersion (FDis) were used to quantify the mean and the variance in the distribution of trait values, respectively. Both the leaf P CWM and leaf P FDis generally increased under grazing and the LDMC CWM decreased, leading to improved plant digestibility and rangeland quality (e.g. high, community-wide leaf nutrients). The leaf C CWM , leaf N CWM and SLA CWM increased under grazing but the FDis of these traits tended to decrease. Grazing generally increased species diversity but decreased aboveground biomass, organic carbon, and nutrient concentrations in soil and root, especially decreasing root nitrogen and soil available phosphorus. Both root biomass and the leaf C:N CWM decreased in grazed plots at wet sites, but increased at dry sites. The community-wide increase and greater interspecific diversity in leaf nutrient concentrations coupled with decreasing LDMC CWM show that grazing induced an increase in plant digestibility, nutrient concentrations, and nutrient diversity in these alpine meadows. However, this increase in forage quality comes at the cost of losses in both carbon stock and nutrient availability that depress biomass production. Our findings and a review of related literature suggest that traditional grazing practices involve a trade-off between short-term yield and sustainability, a management challenge that must be addressed on rangelands with low soil fertility.

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“…In line with the conclusions of the former paper's assumptions, this review explicitly identified the importance of micro-economics and cultural values for the design and viability of ''payment for ecosystem services'' schemes. Niu et al (2016) stress the importance of analyses based on plant functional traits in the evaluation of grazing effects on rangeland biodiversity. Based on the analysis of five leaf traits, they suggest that in Tibetan alpine meadows grazing tends to increase the competition among plant species for soil phosphorus, but decreases the competition for light, resulting in an increase in the functional richness of grazed plant communities.…”

Section: Land-use Change and Land Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Across the Siberian and Central Asian steppes, the Virgin Lands Campaign of the Soviet Union led to Fig. 1 Simplified map of the Palaearctic steppe biome (with main steppe ecoregions after Wesche et al 2016) with localisation of the studies included in this Special Issue: (1) Kuzemko et al (2016); (2) Polyakova et al (2016); (3) Sutcliffe et al (2016); (4) Dembicz et al (2016); (5) Kajtoch et al (2016); (6) Weking et al (2016); (7) Mathar et al (2016); (8) Lameris et al (2016); (9) Wang and Wesche (2016); (10) Addison and Greiner (2016); (11) Niu et al (2016); (12) Novenko et al (2016); (13) Deák et al (2016); (14) Ambarlı et al (2016); (15) Kamp et al (2016); (16) Brinkert et al (2016); (17) Kämpf et al (2016). Reviews summarising data across countries are indicated by large asterisks (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Step(pe) up! Raising the profile of the Palaearctic natural grasslands

Török¹,

Ambarlı

Kamp

et al. 2016

Biodivers Conserv

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Palaearctic steppes are primary grasslands dominating the landscape of the Eurasian Grassland Belt from Central and Eastern Europe to Northern China across the temperate zone of Eurasia. We also include structurally and floristically similar habitats in North Africa, Anatolia, and Iran. The biota of the steppes are diverse, including many endemic species. As a result of the high rate of anthropogenic conversion and widespread degradation, the Palaearctic steppes have become one of the most endangered terrestrial biomes of the world. These facts underline the importance of sustaining landscape-scale biodiversity in steppes and stress the necessity of their conservation and restoration. Literature about the ecology, biodiversity, and conservation of Palaearctic steppes is not easily accessible for an international audience. Therefore, summarising the current state of knowledge as well as knowledge gaps is very timely. This Special Issue on ''Palaearctic steppes: ecology, biodiversity and conservation'', comprises 17 research papers from many different regions throughout the biome, as well as a broad review synthesising current knowledge.

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Grazing increases functional richness but not functional divergence in Tibetan alpine meadow plant communities

Cited by 56 publications

References 55 publications

Community-weighted mean traits but not functional diversity determine the changes in soil properties during wetland drying on the Tibetan Plateau

Community-weighted mean traits but not functional diversity determine the changes in soil properties during wetland drying on the Tibetan Plateau

Tradeoffs between forage quality and soil fertility: Lessons from Himalayan rangelands

Step(pe) up! Raising the profile of the Palaearctic natural grasslands

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