Responses and Indicators of Composition, Diversity, and Productivity of Plant Communities at Different Levels of Disturbance in a Wetland Ecosystem

Abstract

Grassland tourism is a very popular leisure activity in many parts of the world. However, the presence of people in these areas causes disturbance to the local environment and grassland resources. This study analyzes the composition, diversity, and productivity under different levels of disturbance of the plant communities in the Kangxi Grassland Tourist Area and the Yeyahu Wetland Nature Reserve of Beijing, China. It aims to identify indicators of plant communities and their responses to different levels of disturbance. Our analysis shows that the plant community density and coverage have a certain compensatory increase under disturbed conditions. With the increase in disturbances, more drought-tolerant species have appeared (increased by 5.7%), some of which have become the grazing-tolerance indicator species in the trampled grazed area (TGA). For plant community productivity, biomass and height are good indicators for distinguishing different disturbances (p < 0.05). In addition, several diversity indices reveal the change of plant communities from different perspectives (three of the four indices were significant at the p < 0.05 level). For soil parameters, soil water content and organic matter concentration help to indicate different disturbance levels (the former has a 64% change). Moreover, the standard deviation of the plant community and soil parameters is also a good indicator of their spatial variability and disturbance levels, especially for the TGA. Our analysis confirms that the indicators of productivity, diversity, and soil parameters can indicate the disturbance level in each subarea from different perspectives. However, under disturbed conditions, a comprehensive analysis of these indicators is needed before we can accurately understand the state of health of the plant community.

Comparative Analysis of the Performance of a Chain Mower and Tools That Perform Under-Row Weed Control with Tillage in the Vineyard

“…This could be associated with the tools' higher work effectiveness between trunks rather than around them. The greater intensity and frequency of disturbance between trunks may have allowed more weed species to develop by promoting access to limited resources (water, light, and nutrients), thus limiting their interspecific competition [41]. The Shannon diversity index was greater in the first treatment of the year (0.35) compared to the second one (0.22).…”

Spatial distribution of vegetation diversity, timber production, and carbon storage in secondary tropical rainforest at South Kalimantan, Indonesia

“…It also shows how many species live in the forest and their relative contribution to ecological functions (Matatula et al 2021). The vegetation diversity can also be used to understand the natural competition in the ecosystems (Duan et al 2021). On another side, the accumulation of carbon storage indicates the ability of the forest ecosystem to support climate change mitigation, primarily for reducing carbon emissions (Sadono et al 2021a).…”