Impact of Fencing and Irrigation on Species Composition and Diversity of Desert Plant Communities in the United Arab Emirates

El‐Keblawy, Ali

doi:10.1002/ldr.2599

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Community structure in a grassland ecosystem changes with composition, and this easy-to-understand causal link has a very complex mechanism (Svenning et al, 2004;El-Keblawy, 2016). Reynolds et al (2003) stated that changes in plant community structure were the result of plant-microbialsoil interactions.…”

Section: Effects Of Grazing Exclusion On Community Composition and Stmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Term Grazing Exclusion Reduces Species Diversity but Increases Community Heterogeneity in an Alpine Grassland

et al. 2020

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Extensive grazing activity is threatening the alpine grassland of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Evidence has shown that grazing exclusion may change the composition, structure, and functions of grassland ecosystems. However, such effects depend on the intensity and duration of exclusion. We explored the effects of short-term (2 and 4 years) and long-term (9 and 11 years) grazing exclusion on plant height, coverage, and diversity and community heterogeneity in the alpine grassland of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. We found no difference in plant diversity between short-term grazing exclusion and control. However, long-term grazing exclusion reduced species richness and increased the Simpson dominance index. This decrease in plant species richness was mainly attributable to the decrease in common species richness (defined as species with a relative coverage of 1∼5%). In addition, community heterogeneity (coefficient of variation, CV) was significantly higher in long-term grazing exclusion than in controlled plots. Structural equation modeling (SEM) demonstrated that longterm grazing exclusion increased the community heterogeneity mainly by reducing species diversity. These results suggest that the effects of grazing exclusion on the composition, structure, and community spatial heterogeneity of the alpine grassland ecosystem are dependent on exclusion duration. Grazing activity may maintain the high biodiversity and community stability of the alpine grassland in the harsh environment of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

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Section: Effects Of Grazing Exclusion On Community Composition and Stmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Term Grazing Exclusion Reduces Species Diversity but Increases Community Heterogeneity in an Alpine Grassland

et al. 2020

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“…Severely degraded grasslands not only significantly reduce foraging productivity but also lead to ecological problems, such as soil desertification and water retention reduction (El‐Keblawy, ; Harris, ). Therefore, various practices have been implemented that aim to rehabilitate degraded grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grazing enhances soil nutrient effects: Trade‐offs between aboveground and belowground biomass in alpine grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau

2017

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Understanding the impact of grazing patterns on grassland production is of fundamental importance for grassland conservation and management. The objective of this study is to obtain an understanding of the trade‐offs between aboveground biomass and belowground biomass, which are influenced by environmental factors in free grazing (FG) and grazing exclusion (GE) alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau. We explored the relationships between the trade‐off and environmental factors using correlation analysis, a generalized additive model and a structural equation model, and then found that the key factors that determine trade‐off showed differences in FG and GE grasslands and that the final structural equation modeling result explained that 96% (path coefficient = 0.96) and 65% (path coefficient = 0.65) of the variations in the trade‐off were due to FG or GE classifications, respectively. The results demonstrated that soil organic carbon, soil carbon/soil nitrogen, and soil available nitrogen affect the trade‐off between aboveground and belowground biomass in FG grasslands more obviously than in GE grasslands. However, the effects of growing season temperature on the trade‐off were insignificant, −0.218 and −0.181 in FG and GE grasslands, respectively. FG increased the soil bulk density, which resulted in an alteration in the soil pore size distribution and a greater resistance to root penetration. In addition, FG affected the level of soil nutrition, which will affect the nitrogen mineralization of decomposition and absorption, as well as the root biomass. Consequently, this study can provide guidance to improve the quality of grassland.

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“…Therefore, supplementary irrigation is being used in some restoration and revegetation programs due to low precipitation (P), especially with climate change impacts that are affecting the water storage, evaporation, and evapotranspiration (ET) rates [13]. However, irrigation programs need to be appropriately planed due to the scarce water resources in these regions; as well, over-watering may support vegetation survival initially, but increase soil salinity and negatively impact plant diversity over the long term [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Effectiveness of Supplemental Irrigation to Improve Soil Moisture in an Arid Ecosystem with an Emphasis on Climate Change: A Case Study from the State of Kuwait

2020

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Arid ecosystems are extremely vulnerable to climate change, which is considered one of the serious global environmental issues that can cause critical challenges to the hydrological cycle in arid ecosystems. This work focused on assessing the effectiveness of supplemental irrigation to improve the actual soil moisture content in arid ecosystems and considering climate change impacts on soil moisture. The study was conducted at two fenced protected sites in Kuwait. The first site is naturally covered with Rhanterietum epapposum, whereas the other study site is a supplemented irrigated site, containing several revegetated native plants. The results showed that supplemental irrigation highly improved soil moisture (∆SM) during the winter season by >50%. However, during the summer season, the rainfed and irrigated site showed low ∆SM due to the high temperature and high evapotranspiration (ET) rates. We also found that ∆SM would negatively get impacted by climate change. The climate change projection results showed that temperature would increase by 12%–23%, ET would increase by 17%–19%, and precipitation would decrease by 31%–46% by 2100. Such climate change impacts may also shift the current ecosystem from an arid to a hyper-arid ecosystem. Therefore, we concluded that irrigation is a practical option to support the ∆SM during the low-temperature months only (spring and winter) since the results did not show any progress during the summer season. It is also essential to consider the possibility of future shifting in ecosystems and plant communities in restoration and revegetation planning.

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Impact of Fencing and Irrigation on Species Composition and Diversity of Desert Plant Communities in the United Arab Emirates

Cited by 14 publications

References 50 publications

Long-Term Grazing Exclusion Reduces Species Diversity but Increases Community Heterogeneity in an Alpine Grassland

Long-Term Grazing Exclusion Reduces Species Diversity but Increases Community Heterogeneity in an Alpine Grassland

Grazing enhances soil nutrient effects: Trade‐offs between aboveground and belowground biomass in alpine grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau

Assessing the Effectiveness of Supplemental Irrigation to Improve Soil Moisture in an Arid Ecosystem with an Emphasis on Climate Change: A Case Study from the State of Kuwait

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