Indirect drivers of plant diversity-productivity relationship in semiarid sandy grasslands

Zuo, Xiaoan; Knops, Johannes M. H.; Zou, Xueyong; Zhao, Hao; Zhang, T. H.; Li, Yuqiang; Guo, Yuxi

doi:10.5194/bg-9-1277-2012

Cited by 36 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…It has been demonstrated in other plant related studies that productivity increases with increasing TD, FD and PD (Tilman et al 1997;Petchey et al 2004;Ruijven and Berendse 2005;Paquette and Messier 2011;Zuo et al 2012;Cadotte 2013;Genung et al 2014). The mechanism behind such result is resource use complementarity (Tilman et al 1997;Petchey 2003;Cadotte 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Several studies have got five patterns in diversity-productivity relationship such as positive, negative, U-shaped, hump-shaped and no relationship (Hector et al 2010;Ma et al 2010). Although there are strongest evidence of positive relationship in dversity-productivity study (Cadotte et al 2008;Zuo et al 2012;Genung et al 2014). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many experiments measured species richness or species diversity explaining diversity-ecosystem functioning relationship (Tilman et al 2001;Hedlund et al 2003;Ruijven and Berendse 2005;Zuo et al 2012). But species diversity cannot explain similarities or variation of functional traits among species (Hooper et al 2002) which has made FD a better predictor than TD in explaining productivity (Petchey et al 2004;Roscher et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Numerous studies explained diversity-productivity relationship in grassland communities (e.g. Tilman et al 2001;Roscher et al 2012;Zuo et al 2012) where few recent studies have examined on forests and tree-dominated ecosystems (Nadrowski et al 2010). Because, study on large, long-lived trees has benefits but poses undeniable challenges (Tobner et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Relationship between Diversity and Productivity at Ratargul Fresh Water Swamp Forest in Bangladesh

Sharmin¹,

Dey²,

Chowdhury³

2016

Journal of Forest and Environmental Science

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One of the most concerned topics in ecology is the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. However, there are few field studies, carried out in forests, although many studies have been done in controlled experiments in grasslands. In this paper, we describe the relationship pattern between three facets of diversity and productivity at Ratargul Fresh Water Swamp Forest (RFWSF) in Bangladesh, which is the only remaining fresh water swamp forest of the country. Sixty sample plots were selected from RFWSF and included six functional traits including leaf area (LA), specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), tree height, bark thickness and wood density. In analyzing TD, we used Shannon diversity and richness indices, functional diversity was measured by Rao's quadratic entropy (Rao 1982) and Faith's (1992) index was used for phylogenetic diversity (PD). It was found that, TD, FD and PD were positively related with productivity (basal area) due to resource use complementarity but surprisingly the best predictor of tree productivity was FD. The results contribute to the understanding the effects of biodiversity loss and it is essential for conservation decision-making and policy-making of Ratargul Fresh Water Swamp Forest.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Relationship between Diversity and Productivity at Ratargul Fresh Water Swamp Forest in Bangladesh

Sharmin¹,

Dey²,

Chowdhury³

2016

Journal of Forest and Environmental Science

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“…This causes disproportional development of an ecosystem, unhealthy ecological characteristics to provide habitats, palatable and consumable herbs, shrubs and wood species for domestic and wild animals (Arshad et al, 2013). De Bello et al (2013) and Zuo et al (2012) stated that, variations in species diversity, density and distribution of different communities were characterized by site ecological amplitude. Determination of ecological amplitude of a an area is determined by the altitudinal gradients effecting climatic conditions, which then cause variations in vegetation distribution (Wolf, 1994;Lieberman et al, 1996).…”

Section: Species Richness and Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Density and Taxonomic Diversity of Understory Vegetation in Relation to Site Conditions in Natural Stands of Acacia modesta in Malakand Division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Muhammad¹,

Khan²,

Ali³

et al. 2016

Science, Technology and Development

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Site ecological factors have great influence on the vegetation density, distribution and diversity. Its prediction is of prime importance for the forest ecosystem conservation and management. Therefore, density, taxonomic diversity and distribution of understory vegetation on varied soil and topographic conditions of 32 Acacia modesta (Wall) d ominating forests in Malakand Division between an elevation ranging from 598-1050 m above sea level, in Northern Pakistan (71°03-72°04 E Longitude and 34°31-34°45 N Latitude) were studies during 2013-14. These forests for ecological attributes were sampled by laid down 20 quadrates of 5×5 m along a line transect of 200 m with 10 step intervals. Site physiographic and soil physiochemical features were also analyzed for each forest stand. A total of 3836 individuals (plants), comprising 32 species and belonging to 20 angiosperms families were recorded. The analysis of understory vegetation revealed that Asteraceae, Poaceae and Sapindaceae were the dominant families in terms of taxonomic diversity and Family Importance Value (FIV) index, respectively. The members of Chenopodiaceae and Poaceae were distributed on six different aspects. However, species richness and diversity were generally high on East and West aspects of the study area. Dodonea viscosa (L.) Jacq was the dominant shrub species in terms of density and percent cover. In addition, percent species and abundance show contrast variations with relative frequency. The site environment and species relationship show that lower basicity, high sand and water contents have a great influence on the plant species diversity and richness. The results suggested that certain physiographic and edaphic variables confined the species richness, diversity and distribution of the vegetation in the study area.

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Plant functional diversity enhances associations of soil fungal diversity with vegetation and soil in the restoration of semiarid sandy grassland

Zuo

Wang

et al. 2015

Ecology and Evolution

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The trait‐based approach shows that plant functional diversity strongly affects ecosystem properties. However, few empirical studies show the relationship between soil fungal diversity and plant functional diversity in natural ecosystems. We investigated soil fungal diversity along a restoration gradient of sandy grassland (mobile dune, semifixed dune, fixed dune, and grassland) in Horqin Sand Land, northern China, using the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 18S rRNA and gene sequencing. We also examined associations of soil fungal diversity with plant functional diversity reflected by the dominant species' traits in community (community‐weighted mean, CWM) and the dispersion of functional trait values (FD is). We further used the structure equation model (SEM) to evaluate how plant richness, biomass, functional diversity, and soil properties affect soil fungal diversity in sandy grassland restoration. Soil fungal richness in mobile dune and semifixed dune was markedly lower than those of fixed dune and grassland (P < 0.05). Soil fungal richness was positively associated with plant richness, biomass, CWM plant height, and soil gradient aggregated from the principal component analysis, but SEM results showed that plant richness and CWM plant height determined by soil properties were the main factors exerting direct effects. Soil gradient increased fungal richness through indirect effect on vegetation rather than direct effect. The negative indirect effect of FDis on soil fungal richness was through its effect on plant biomass. Our final SEM model based on plant functional diversity explained nearly 70% variances of soil fungal richness. Strong association of soil fungal richness with the dominant species in the community supported the mass ratio hypothesis. Our results clearly highlight the role of plant functional diversity in enhancing associations of soil fungal diversity with community structure and soil properties in sandy grassland ecosystems.

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Indirect drivers of plant diversity-productivity relationship in semiarid sandy grasslands

Cited by 36 publications

References 57 publications

Relationship between Diversity and Productivity at Ratargul Fresh Water Swamp Forest in Bangladesh

Relationship between Diversity and Productivity at Ratargul Fresh Water Swamp Forest in Bangladesh

Density and Taxonomic Diversity of Understory Vegetation in Relation to Site Conditions in Natural Stands of Acacia modesta in Malakand Division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Plant functional diversity enhances associations of soil fungal diversity with vegetation and soil in the restoration of semiarid sandy grassland

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