The correlation between soil water salinity and plant community distribution under micro-topography in Songnen Plain

Fan, 杨帆 Yang; Zhichun, 王志春 Wang; Yunhe, 王云贺 Wang; Fenghua, 安丰华 An; Changwei, 赵长巍 Zhao

doi:10.5846/stxb201306051346

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In inland saline ecosystems, the importance of edaphic factors in structuring plant communities has long been noted in a number of studies throughout the world (Ungar 1974;Wilkon´-Michalska 1985;Burchill and Kenkel 1991;Cantero et al 1998;Rogel et al 2000;Piernik 2005;Gonza´lez-Alcaraz et al 2014), but the study in China is still limited (Pan et al 1998;Du et al 2007;Yang et al 2013). Saline lands widely distributed in semiarid inland areas with scant rainfall, strong wind, high temperature and evaporation, in northwestern China (Zhao et al 2011;Minggagud and Yang 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil moisture and salt ionic composition effects on species distribution and diversity in semiarid inland saline habitats, northwestern China

Zhang

Zhao

Zhang

2018

Ecological Research

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Salinization is one of the main types causing land desertification in arid and semi‐arid regions. Little is known about the impacts of salinization on the distribution and diversity of plant species, especially in semiarid inland saline habitats. We established a total of 40 sampling plots to determine plant community (floristic composition, species abundance, cover, frequency, and aboveground biomass) and soil characteristics (moisture, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and the contents of Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl−, SO42− and HCO3−). The TWINSPAN method was used to distinguish plant communities, by which three plant communities (I, II, III) were identified, namely Artemisia scoparia + Agropyron cristatum + Sophora alopecuroides (I), Kalidium gracile + Atriplex centralasiatica (II), and Salicornia europaea + Suaeda salsa (III). From I to III, the indices reflecting species diversity all decreased except for Pielou's index of evenness, while the aboveground biomass and cover increased; the characteristic indices of soil moisture, EC, the contents of Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl−, SO42− and total dissolved salts (TDS) significantly increased, while the Ca2+/Na+, K+/Na+ ratios and HCO3− content significantly decreased. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that the most important environmental factors influencing species distribution were: soil moisture, SO42−, K+/Na+ and pH. Stepwise multiple‐regression analysis indicated that species richness was correlated mainly with TDS and moisture. These results also suggested that vegetation can be used as a proxy indicating soil salt conditions, and their relationships can further provide important information for the improvement of salt‐affected soil's management and salt‐tolerant species utilization in environmental restoration.

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