Plant community of alpine steppe shows stronger association with soil properties than alpine meadow alongside degradation

Peng, Fei; Xue, Xian; Li, Chengyang; Lai, Chimin; Sun, Jian; Tsubo, Mitsuru; Tsunekawa, Atsushi; Wang, Tao

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139048

Cited by 50 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Sedge and graminoid species have highly branched fibrous root systems that are mainly distributed near the soil surface, and this leads to a rapid increase near the soil surface biomass of the grasslands during vegetation restoration (Wang et al, 2014). The vegetation composition of AM is dominated by forbs with a deep root system (Liu et al, 2018), and then the AGB increase after fencing is dominated by deep layer (Peng et al, 2020a). In high altitude, the constructive species were rhizome grass which the roots distribute mainly in the upper layer of soil in the enclosed site.…”

Section: Discussion Vegetation Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies show different responses of different alpine grasslands to climate warming (Ganjurjav et al, 2016), N addition (Li et al, 2019), and changes in soil properties (Peng et al, 2020a). For example, the plant community of AS shows a stronger association with soil properties than AM alongside degradation (Peng et al, 2020a). Warming did not significantly change the plant composition and species diversity in the AM, but it did cause rapid changes in species diversity (Ganjurjav et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Quantifying the changes in vegetation characteristics and soil properties of different grasslands can help us understand how to carry out land management regimes (Li et al, 2013). Previous studies show different responses of different alpine grasslands to climate warming (Ganjurjav et al, 2016), N addition (Li et al, 2019), and changes in soil properties (Peng et al, 2020a). For example, the plant community of AS shows a stronger association with soil properties than AM alongside degradation (Peng et al, 2020a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Response of Plant and Soil Properties of Alpine Grassland to Long-Term Exclosure in the Northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Huang

Peng

You

et al. 2020

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Section: Discussion Vegetation Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Response of Plant and Soil Properties of Alpine Grassland to Long-Term Exclosure in the Northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Huang

Peng

You

et al. 2020

Front. Environ. Sci.

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“…Alpine meadow is mainly composed of cold-tolerant mesophytic perennial herbs, with dense grass community, low grass layer and no obvious hierarchical differentiation, while alpine steppe is mainly composed of cold and dry perennial grasses and Tibetan Carex, with sparse vegetation and obvious vertical stratification structure [56]. Due to the spatial differences in their species, distributions and growth environments, there are significant differences in their change characteristics and their responses to climate change [57,58]. Although several studies have been performed on vegetation change and its response to climate change in the QTP, information on regional differences in the relationship between different types of vegetation and climate factors is lacking, especially in the AM and AS, which have the most extensive distributions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and Temporal Differences in Alpine Meadow, Alpine Steppe and All Vegetation of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and Their Responses to Climate Change

et al. 2021

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Alpine meadow and alpine steppe are the two most widely distributed nonzonal vegetation types in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In the context of global climate change, the differences in spatial-temporal variation trends and their responses to climate change are discussed. It is of great significance to reveal the response of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to global climate change and the construction of ecological security barriers. This study takes alpine meadow, alpine steppe and the overall vegetation of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as the research objects. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data and meteorological data were used as the data sources between 2000 and 2018. By using the mean value method, threshold method, trend analysis method and correlation analysis method, the spatial and temporal variation trends in the alpine meadow, alpine steppe and the overall vegetation of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau were compared and analyzed, and their differences in the responses to climate change were discussed. The results showed the following: (1) The growing season length of alpine meadow was 145~289 d, while that of alpine steppe and the overall vegetation of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was 161~273 d, and their growing season lengths were significantly shorter than that of alpine meadow. (2) The annual variation trends of the growing season NDVI for the alpine meadow, alpine steppe and the overall vegetation of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau increased obviously, but their fluctuation range and change rate were significantly different. (3) The overall vegetation improvement in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was primarily dominated by alpine steppe and alpine meadow, while the degradation was primarily dominated by alpine meadow. (4) The responses between the growing season NDVI and climatic factors in the alpine meadow, alpine steppe and the overall vegetation of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau had great spatial heterogeneity in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. These findings provide evidence towards understanding the characteristics of the different vegetation types in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and their spatial differences in response to climate change.

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“…Generally, grassland has a variety of biomes ranging from near-pristine to degraded lands due to negative changes (e.g., degradation) in vegetation and soil due to overgrazing (Wang and Ba, 2008;Peng et al, 2020), resulting in widescale of soil salinization (Huang et al, 2012). The decomposition process varies with the degrees of degradation and how plant and soil interact with each other (López-Pujol et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species Diversity Induces Idiosyncratic Effects on Litter Decomposition in a Degraded Meadow Steppe

Naeem

Asif

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Litter decomposition is a fundamental path for nutrient cycling in a natural ecosystem. However, it remains unclear how species diversity, including richness and evenness, affects the decomposition dynamics in the context of grassland degradation. Using a litter bag technique, we investigated the litter-mixing effects of two coexisting dominant species (Leymus chinensis Lc and Phragmites australis Pa), as monocultures and mixtures with evenness (Lc:Pa) from M1 (30:70%), M2 (50:50%), and M3 (70:30%), on decomposition processes over time (60 and 365 days). The litter bags were placed on the soil surface along a degradation gradient [near pristine (NP), lightly degraded (LD), and highly degraded (HD)]. We found that 1) mass loss in mixture compositions was significantly and positively correlated with initial nitrogen (N) and cellulose contents; 2) litter mixing (richness and evenness) influenced decomposition dynamics individually and in interaction with the incubation days and the degradation gradients; 3) in a general linear model (GLM), nonadditive antagonistic effects were more prominent than additive or neutral effects in final litter and nutrients except for carbon (C); and 4) in nutrients (C, N, lignin) and C/N ratio, additive effects shifted to nonadditive with incubation time. We speculated that the occurrence of nonadditive positive or negative effects varied with litter and nutrients mass remaining in each degraded gradient under the mechanism of initial litter quality of monoculture species, soil properties of experimental sites, and incubation time. Our study has important implications for grassland improvement and protection by considering species biodiversity richness, as well as species evenness.

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Plant community of alpine steppe shows stronger association with soil properties than alpine meadow alongside degradation

Cited by 50 publications

References 54 publications

The Response of Plant and Soil Properties of Alpine Grassland to Long-Term Exclosure in the Northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

The Response of Plant and Soil Properties of Alpine Grassland to Long-Term Exclosure in the Northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Spatial and Temporal Differences in Alpine Meadow, Alpine Steppe and All Vegetation of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and Their Responses to Climate Change

Species Diversity Induces Idiosyncratic Effects on Litter Decomposition in a Degraded Meadow Steppe

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